The stock market fell Monday in cautious trading, with investors looking for catalysts that could shore up the course.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 82.99 points, or 1.1 percent, to 7,500.53 on a value turnover of P5.4 billion. Losers beat gainers, 115 to 85, with 40 issues unchanged.
Investors are monitoring overseas developments as well as discussions on the second package of the government’s tax reform program and efforts to contain inflation.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp. lost 4.4 percent to P955, while Manila Electric Co., the biggest retailer of electricity, declined 3.5 percent to P350.20 on continued profit-taking.
GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty decreased 2.4 percent to P874, while SM Investments Corp. of retail magnate Henry Sy Sr. slipped 1 percent to P918.
The rest of Asian the market mostly rose on Monday as investors grow hopeful that China and the United States will resolve their trade dispute.
Hong Kong rose 1.3 percent in the afternoon session and Shanghai closed up 1.1 percent, while Sydney and Singapore each climbed 0.1 percent and Seoul ended with marginal gains.
Jakarta soared 1.8 percent, while Wellington and Taipei also posted gains.
Tokyo pared early losses to end 0.3 percent lower.
Wall Street ended last week with gains following a report that top officials from the world’s top two economies would hold talks to resolve a crisis that has seen them hit each other with tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods, with more in the pipeline.
The report in the Wall Street Journal said the talks were aimed at easing the trade dispute before President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a summit in November.
The possibility that the months-long row which has battered world markets could be brought to an end was enough to spur optimism on trading floors.
Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, pointed out that Beijing, which is struggling to support the economy while also addressing a debt mountain, may have had a “lightbulb moment” last week with the release of more weak data and a sharp drop in the troubled yuan.
Authorities in China appeared to be moving to support the yuan last week as it headed towards seven to the dollar, its weakest level since January 2017.
Some observers have suggested the central bank has been letting the yuan soften in recent weeks to offset the effects of any US tariffs, a claim China has denied.
“President Trump is winning again,” he said. “That’s the takeaway he’s likely to get from news that China’s resolve may be cracking and the trade delegation being sent to Washington is not as low-level as many thought.”
On currency markets the Turkish lira was hovering above six to the dollar, well off the record levels around seven seen last week but still under pressure after Ankara and Washington traded fresh sanctions threats as the row over a jailed American pastor drags on. With AFP