The stock market close flat Friday, ignoring another positive lead from Wall Street although traders remain nervous about the outlook for global trade with Donald Trump in the White House.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added just 1.03 points, or 0.01 percent, to 7,333.67 on a value turnover of P5.1 billion. Losers beat gainers, 92 to 82, with 62 issues unchanged.
LT Group Inc. of airline and tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan advanced 4.6 percent to P13.26, while Bloomberry Resorts Corp. of port tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. gained 2.6 percent to P7.90.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-biggest lender in terms of assets, rose 2 percent to P79.25.
Ayala Land Inc., one of the largest property developers, fell 1.5 percent to P35.35, while Semirara Mining and Power Corp., the biggest coal miner, declined 1.4 percent to P136.60.
Market gains in the rest of Asian markets after one of the best weeks in January, meanwhile, were tempered with investors taking a breather as they keep an eye on developments in Washington where Trump is pushing on with his “America first” agenda.
Markets surged in the two months after Trump’s November election win on hopes his plans for big infrastructure spending, tax cuts and slashing red tape would fan the world’s biggest economy and, in turn, global growth.
The new year saw a retreat as his failure to provide any detail of his economic plans led to worries about his determination to follow through with his campaign promises.
But his decision to give the go-ahead to controversial oil pipelines across the US lifted spirits on trading floors earlier in the week as it was taken as a sign the tycoon would deliver.
In New York on Wednesday the Dow broke 20,000 for the first time and on Thursday extended those gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are also sitting around record highs.
Asian markets have followed suit, rallying for most of this week.
On Friday Tokyo rose 0.3 percent as the dollar held Thursday’s rise against the yen. There was also some lift on news that Japanese consumer prices fell in December but at a slower pace than the previous month.
Sydney ended 0.8 percent higher, while Singapore gained 0.4 percent.
Hong Kong ended down 0.1 percent after a four-day rally.
Activity was thin across markets heading into the Lunar New Year break, while Shanghai and Seoul were already closed.
“Donald Trump is getting down to business and the stock market seems to like that,” Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at FX and CFD provider AxiTrader, said in a note.
“For now we are getting an extension of the Trumponomics rally in stocks. Traders and investors seem to have a renewed focus on the reality that for all his belligerence President Trump does seem likely to institute his key tax and economic plans.”
There remain worries, however, about Trump’s protectionist slant and on Thursday those tensions increased after Mexico’s president scrapped a planned visit to the US over the billionaire’s plans to build a border wall and make the country pay for it. With AFP