Stocks fell for a fifth day, dragging the benchmark index to a four-month low, as it tracked the Asian markets which were pulled down by technology shares led by Samsung Electronics Co.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, lost 13 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 7,520.82 Tuesday. Despite the loss, the bellwether was still up 8.2 percent this year.
The heavier index, representing all shares, ended flat at 4,490.03, on a value turnover of P7.2 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 96 to 78, while 51 issues were unchanged.
Ten of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. which climbed 6.8 percent to P5.19 and Semirara Mining and Power Corp. which gained 3.3 percent to P124.
Meanwhile, most Asian markets traded lower Tuesday, as Samsung Electronics plunged 8 percent after it called an unprecedented halt to sales of its troubled Galaxy Note 7 handset, while most regional markets struggled to maintain an early energy-fuelled rally.
The world’s biggest smartphone maker dragged Seoul’s Kospi down 1.2 percent after it told customers to stop using their Galaxy Note 7 devices and called a halt to worldwide sales, as US officials warned the phones could blow up.
The announcement came a little over a month after the world’s largest smartphone maker announced a recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets following complaints that its lithium-ion battery exploded while charging.
The crisis has turned into a PR disaster for the company, which prides itself on innovation and quality, and the situation only worsened when reports emerged a week ago of replacement phones also catching fire.
Samsung’s share price plunge followed a 1.5-percent fall Monday on reports it was suspending production of the device, after major distributors stopped offering replacements for defective handsets because of continued safety concerns.
“If it’s once, it could be taken as a mistake. But for Samsung, the same thing happened twice with the same model so there’s going to be a considerable loss of consumer faith,” said Greg Roh at HMC Investment Securities.
The issue weighed on tech shares in Asia with Lee Kyoung Min, a senior analyst for global investment strategy with Daishin Securities in Seoul, telling Bloomberg News that “uncertainty surrounding the information-technology industry [is] spreading”.
The Kospi was among the big losers in the region, where the morning saw every market up as a rally in oil prices Monday propelled energy firms.
Oil dipped slightly after soaring around three percent Monday in response to comments from President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was ready to align with OPEC’s push to limit production and address a supply glut.
His comments at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul came as Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih predicted prices could rise further, having been under pressure since mid-2014 on the supply glut, overproduction and weak demand.
Big-name energy-linked firms jumped in Wall Street and their counterparts in Asia initially followed suit before the rally lost steam.
At the end of the trading day Tokyo was one percent higher, while Sydney and Wellington each gained 0.1 percent.
Shanghai closed up 0.6 percent.
But Hong Kong reversed a morning rally to sit 1.5 percent lower in late trade, with developers also hit by measures in some Chinese cities aimed at cooling property prices. With AFP, Bloomberg
