The stock market fell Friday, weighed down by the tepid economic expansion in the second quarter of 2019 and the disappointing corporate earnings of some listed companies in the same period.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 59.77 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,854.39 on a value turnover of P6.2 billion. Losers beat gainers, 114 to 84, with 47 issues unchanged.
Global debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service trimmed its growth forecast for the Philippines in 2019 to 5.8 percent from its previous estimate of 6 percent made last May, taking into account the economy’s lackluster performance in the first half.
Economic growth eased further to a four-year low of 5.5 percent in the second quarter of 2019, marking the slowest rate of expansion since early 2015.
Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fast-food chain, declined 2.2 percent to P225, while International Container Terminal Services Inc., the largest port operator, lost 3.5 percent to P125.50.
SM Prime Holdings Inc., one of the biggest integrated property company in Southeast Asia, fell 2.7 percent to P35.50, while Filinvest Land Inc. of the Gotianun Group slipped 2.2 percent to P1.81.
The rest of Asian markets largely rallied Friday, tracking a rebound on Wall Street, as investors attempted to shrug off lingering US-China trade war fears.
Positive data out of Japan helped drive the Nikkei index up by 0.4 percent, after figures showed the world’s third-biggest economy was growing faster than analysts had predicted.
The stronger-than-expected data showed Japan’s gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent from the previous quarter on robust consumer demand, beating analysts’ median forecast of 0.1 percent.
“The reading of the data itself was not a huge buying peg… but nonetheless it confirmed personal spending could pick up,” said Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.
The Japanese data came a day after China released figures showing that its exports beat expectations to rise in July, even as shrinking imports pointed to weak demand at home.
Hong Kong and Sydney edged up 0.3 percent Friday, while Seoul climbed 0.9 percent. But Shanghai shed 0.3 percent.
Safe haven assets such as bonds, gold and the yen remained in demand, signaling that trade war fears would continue to weigh on markets.
Interest rate cuts by central banks in India, Thailand and New Zealand this week underscored investor anxiety with analysts saying markets believe further cuts are in the offing.
“The current market dynamics are such that the stabilization of risk assets will remain a function of improvement on the trade front or the Fed turning increasingly more dovish,” said Stephen Innes at VM Markets.
“With a near term trade agreement little more (than) wishful thinking at this stage the markets will lean on the dovish Fed narrative again as a critical circuit breaker to diffuse the markets’ stress overload from escalating trade and currency war tensions,” he added. With AFP
