The stock market rebounded Thursday on bargain hunting, led by index heavyweights PLDT Inc. and BDO Unibank Inc.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index surged 110.69 points, or 1.4 percent, to 8,272.18 on a value turnover of P8.3 billion. Losers, however, beat gainers, 124 to 79, with 48 issues unchanged.
PLDT, the biggest telecommunications firm, advanced 3.6 percent to P1,160, while BDO, the largest lender in terms of assets, climbed 3 percent to P151.90. LT Group Inc. of airline and tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan rose 3.3 percent to P14.58.
Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fast-food chain, slumped 6 percent to P236, after announcing Wednesday its acquisition of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, a specialty coffee and tea chain based in Los Angeles, California, for $350 million. Analysts said market investors turned cautious on Jollibee, whose latest purchase they believed was a costly investment.
The rest of Asian markets were tempered Thursday after two days of gains as doubts emerged over next week’s US-China trade meeting and beleaguered Japanese carmaker Nissan announced massive job cuts.
Hong Kong finished 0.3 percent higher, Shanghai gained 0.5 percent and Tokyo closed up 0.2 percent. Singapore rose 0.4 percent while Seoul was down by the same amount.
Sydney closed up 0.6 percent after Reserve Bank chief Philip Lowe said he would favor further rate cuts to kickstart economic growth.
Reports that US President Donald Trump’s Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will lead a delegation to China next week to resume trade talks buoyed markets on Wednesday.
The meeting would be the first head-to-head since negotiations were cut short in May by Trump’s surprise decision to hit China with more tariffs for what he called Beijing’s backsliding.
But a US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, a move that sparked concern in Beijing, while the Wednesday release of a Chinese defense white paper that accuses Washington of undermining “global strategic stability” has softened hopes of a resolution to the long-running trade battle.
Traders had “growing doubts that anything meaningful will come out of next week’s US-China face to face between US and Chinese trade delegates as non-trade-related tensions start to flare”, said Stephen Innes of Vanguard Markets.
Nissan announced after the market close that it would shed 12,500 jobs, following a 95-percent net profit plunge in the first quarter to $59 million.
The crisis-hit automaker has struggled with weak sales in the United States and Europe and the fallout from the arrest of its former chief Carlos Ghosn.
Investors were also wary of a slump in manufacturing activity, amid signs of Eurozone business growth stalling.
Innes said that weakness in US manufacturing would likely spill over into the services sector.
“When this happens in September or October, it will trigger one of the most significant US dollar and US asset sell signals of the year,” he added.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix posted an 89 percent plunge in second-quarter net profit on the back of weak demand. With AFP
