The stock market fell Wednesday on profit-taking and ahead of a key Federal Reserve policy announcement, with select blue chips paring their recent gains.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index sank 83.18 points, or 1.1 percent, to 7,736.07 on a value turnover of P6.5 billion. Gainers, however, beat losers, 117 to 87, with 43 issues unchanged.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp., which is into malls, banking, property development, telecommunications and water distribution, declined 3.7 percent to P930, while unit Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-biggest lender in terms of assets, dropped 2.9 percent to P102.
JG Summit Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei tumbled 5.2 percent P60.60, while GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty slumped 4.8 percent to P1,000.
The rest of Asian equity markets, meanwhile, struggled as investors returned from public holidays across the region.
Technology stocks were mixed, even after Apple released better-than-expected earnings that soothed worries about iPhone sales.
The Nikkei in Tokyo ended 0.2 percent lower and Hong Kong slipped 0.3 percent in the afternoon. Shanghai and Singapore were marginally down, while Taipei, Bangkok and Jakarta fell.
However, Sydney rose 0.6 percent and Wellington climbed 0.7 percent.
As trading floors reopened after the Labor Day break, attention was on the Fed’s policy decision later Tuesday.
While the central bank is not expected to lift interest rates, its post-meeting statement will be parsed for clues to its plans and any idea of a timetable for future hikes with opinions split on whether it will announce three or four more this year. That is followed by the release Friday of closely watched US jobs data.
A broadly positive outlook for the US economy, along with easing geopolitical and trade worries, has provided some lift to the dollar.
The greenback is testing the 110 yen mark for the first time since the start of February while it has also surged against the pound as the Bank of England puts its own plans for a rate hike on the back-burner.
It is also building on gains against higher-yielding currencies including the Australian dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Mexican peso and Thai baht. The South Korean won was also in retreat after enjoying a rally on the back of Friday’s North-South Korea summit.
“The US dollar bulls continued to lead the charge as traders remain centered favorably on the entrenched US data flow… relative to that from other major economies that are cooling quickly,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA.
“It’s now over to the (Fed policy committee) to hold up their side of the bargain as so far, the heavy lifting for the greenback has fallen on the global central bank community, which has turned dovish on the first hint of economic slack.”
Wall Street’s three main indexes ended mixed with analysts warning the strong earnings season could be be a high mark for the year. With AFP
