The stock market fell Friday in dull trading as investors look for a catalyst that could send the benchmark index above the 8,000-point mark.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index declined 28.48 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,922.50 on a value turnover of nearly P7 billion. Losers beat gainers, 110 to 75, with 55 issues unchanged.
Manila Water Co. Inc. dropped 1.4 percent to P19.96, while parent Ayala Corp. lost 1.8 percent to P849. Two senators sought a review of the concession agreement of water companies with the government as the utilities again began rotational supply interruptions.
DMCI Holdings Inc., which owns 25 percent of Maynilad Water Holding Company Inc., the water distributor in the western zone of Metro Manila, slumped 5.3 percent to P8.20, but Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-biggest lender in terms of assets, rose 1.9 percent to P99.
The sterling, meanwhile, extended losses Friday owing to renewed Brexit uncertainty after Boris Johnson proposed a general election to resolve the long-running saga, while Asian markets were mixed after a broadly positive week.
With the prime minister giving up on a pledge to leave the EU by his Halloween deadline, he called for a December 12 national vote that would likely give his Conservative party enough MPs to eventually pass the agreement.
However, opposition lawmakers have said they will only vote for a snap poll if they are guaranteed Britain will not leave the EU without a deal, meaning there is a good chance his election bid will fail.
MPs will decide Monday on whether to agree to the election, just as the European Union is due to announce a three-month extension to the deadline.
Shanghai rose 0.5 percent while Tokyo ended up 0.2 percent at a one-year high, with Sydney gaining 0.7 percent, Singapore adding 0.5 percent and Seoul 0.1 percent higher.
But Hong Kong dipped 0.2 percent, while there were also losses in Taipei, Wellington, Mumbai, Bangkok and Jakarta.
The pound, which this week broke $1.30 for the first time in five months on optimism a no-deal Brexit will be avoided, went into retreat Thursday and was stuck around $1.240 on Friday. It was also down against the euro.
“A sense of rational optimism around Brexit has given way to more uncertainty as to the pound, and UK risk markets were roiled” by the prospect of an election, said AxiTrader analyst Stephen Innes.
He added that a national vote would amount to a referendum on Johnson’s Brexit strategy.
But OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said that while sterling was lower “the mild sell-off will probably give way to optimism that a hard Brexit is almost off the table, and that Parliament’s three-year impasse could soon be history”.
Equity markets were fluctuating through the morning as investors keep an eye on the events in Westminster, while also awaiting the latest developments in the China-US trade talks.
Optimism that the two economic superpowers will hammer out details for a mini agreement by next month have helped support equities this week. With AFP
