Stocks retreated Thursday, dragging the benchmark index to a new 10-month low, amid Asian market declines following a slide in US stocks.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, slid 99 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 6,587.17. This widened the bellwether’s losses this year to 5.2 percent.
The heavier index, representing all shares, also tumbled 49 points, or 1.2 percent, to settle at 4,036.50, on a value turnover of P6.6 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 123 to 43, while 46 issues were unchanged.
All six sectoral indices declined, while only two of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by conglomerate Ayala Corp. which rose 0.4 percent to P716 and SM Prime Holdings Inc. which picked up 0.4 percent to P27.35.
JG Summit Holdings Inc. was the biggest loser among the most traded issues, as it fell 4.7 percent to P65.55.
Other Asian markets turned lower Thursday following a rare drop for this month on Wall Street, with concerns about Italy’s banking sector denting confidence.
With dealers winding down for the Christmas break business is thinning, making swings sharper while profit-takers close in after the recent global rally.
Trading floors from Asia to the Americas have been humming since Donald Trump last month won the US presidential election, with dealers betting his big-spending, tax-cutting policies will ramp up growth in the world’s top economy.
That has also fueled a surge on US markets, with all three main indexes clocking up record closes in December.
However, the Dow slipped for just the fourth time this month, having hit multiple all-time highs and bearing down on the key 20,000-point mark.
And in early trade Asian markets followed their US counterparts’ lead.
Tokyo ended down 0.1 percent, having risen for 10 of the previous 12 sessions. “Moderate losses on Wall Street, underpinned by the fall in oil prices, are providing little inspiration for Asian markets today,” Jingyi Pan, a strategist at IG Asia in Singapore, told Bloomberg News.
“Thin volumes are also providing little momentum for trade into the end of the year.”
Hong Kong lost 0.8 percent in the afternoon, putting it into a correction—a 10-percent drop from its recent high seen on Sept. 9.
Singapore fell 0.7 percent and Seoul was 0.1 percent lower, while Taipei, Mumbai, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur also retreated.
But Sydney closed 0.5 percent higher and Wellington climbed 0.7 percent after data showed the New Zealand economy grew more than expected July-September.
Shanghai reversed early losses to end up 0.1 percent.
Financial firms fell on worries over Italy, where the world’s oldest bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena plunged more than 12 percent as it struggles to stay afloat under massive debts.
The lender’s troubles mirror a wider problem in Italy’s banking industry, which is buckling under bad loans, prompting parliament to approve a 20 billion euro ($20.9 billion) support package.
There are fears a collapse in the country’s finance sector could batter the global banking industry.