Share prices retreated Wednesday in listless trading as investors wait for a catalyst that could push the market back to the 8,000-point level.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 45.98 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,861.05 on a value turnover of P5.6 billion. Losers overwhelmed gainers, 139 to 71, with 49 issues unchanged.
GT Capital Holdings Inc. of the Ty Group declined 3.3 percent to P959.50, while unit Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-biggest lender in terms of assets, lost 2.2 percent to P79.
Conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. dropped 2.5 percent to P4.72, while major property developer Ayala Land Inc. slipped 2.1 percent to P43.55
The rest of Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday following a strong lead from Wall Street but traders remained on edge about the global economy, while oil prices extended gains after Russia reassured over its intention to cut output.
Trading remained choppy across the region after a key US gauge raised a red flag warning of recession, adding to Federal Reserve worries about growth, uncertainty over Brexit and China’s stuttering economy.
After fluctuating through the morning, most Asian markets were higher.
Hong Kong rose 0.6 percent in the afternoon and Shanghai finished 0.9 percent higher with Sydney adding 0.1 percent and Singapore up 0.4 percent.
Mumbai rose 0.5 percent and Wellington surged 1.3 percent after the New Zealand central bank hinted at an interest rate cut. However, Tokyo and Seoul each slipped 0.2 percent, while Taipei and Bangkok also retreated.
While the optimism that has characterized most of 2019 has been shaken in recent weeks, a weak round of US data was unable to prevent a rebound in New York Tuesday, with all three main indexes ending higher.
And OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said the reaction to the so-called yield curve inversion”•which was last seen ahead of the financial crisis a decade ago”•had been “quickly consigned to history.”
He added that “the volte-face in sentiment suggests to me that despite all the noise, markets are flip-flopping on short-term data as we await the conclusion of the only real game in town: the US-China trade talks”.
Top-level negotiators will this week meet up again to try to hammer out an agreement with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer telling National Public Radio: “If there’s a great deal to be gotten, we’ll get it. If not, we’ll find another plan.”
There are hopes for some sort of deal for Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to sign off on as soon as next month.
The US president “is desperate for a deal”, Clark Packard at the R Street Institute think-tank said. “I don’t think he wants to go into 2020, running for re-election, without something here.”
Regional energy firms have been given a lift by rallying oil prices after major producer Russia said it was on track to slash output this month, keeping it on track to fulfilling commitments to a deal with Opec. With AFP
