Market retreats; Jollibee leads losers

The stock market declined Monday on profit taking and in step with the rest of Asia as fears about a fresh global surge in coronavirus infections spooked investors.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index shed 60.05 points, or 0.8 percent, at 7,237.61 on a value turnover of P6.7 billion. Losers overwhelmed losers, 112 to 57, with 51 issues unchanged.
Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fast-food chain, slumped 4.5 percent to P214, while JG Summit Holdings Inc. of the Gokongwei Group fell 3.4 percent to P54.
Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. jumped 9.9 percent to P1.11, while noodles maker Monde Nissin Corp. climbed 3.8 percent to P15.90.
The rest of Asian stocks and oil prices sank Monday as the future of US President Joe Biden’s massive social spending bill was thrown into doubt after it lost the crucial vote of a moderate Democrat.
With traders beginning to wind down ahead of the festive season, analysts said trade was thinner and markets more susceptible to swings, but the mood has become increasingly glum as central banks start paring their huge financial support to fight inflation.
At the same time, economies are taking a hit as the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant forces governments to reimpose containment measures and consumers are staying at home.
“Omicron remains a concern and cases are on the rise,” said Robert Schein of Blanke Schein Wealth Management. “Investors should be prepared for COVID to continue to be a main factor in market performance heading into 2022.”
“After the bull run we’ve seen over the past 21 months, investors aren’t as used to prolonged periods of volatility.”
Investors got another negative lead from Wall Street where all three main indexes ended sharply lower on Friday after the Federal Reserve said it would speed up the taper of its bond-buying program and indicated three interest rate hikes before the end of 2022.
While the announcement was initially welcomed because it cleared up some policy uncertainty, it signaled the beginning of the end of the era of cheap cash that has helped propel global markets to record or multi-year highs for much of the past two years.
Tokyo and Mumbai shed more than two percent, while Hong Kong fell 1.9 percent and Seoul 1.8 percent. Shanghai, Singapore and Bangkok were more than one percent lower. There were also losses in Sydney, Taipei and Jakarta, though Wellington edged up.
Dealers were unmoved by news that China had trimmed a key interest rate by five basis points as it looks to reignite the stuttering economy.
“It is Omicron’s spread over the festive holidays and Manchin,” Wai Ho Leong, of Modular Asset Management, said. “But most of all, it is the lack of liquidity in all markets.”
The virus spread has hit the oil market on concerns about the impact on demand as countries revert back to containment measures, with both main contracts down more than three percent to extend Friday’s big losses.
“Although the short-term outlook for oil is being sunk by negative virus and US legislative sentiment, we should not discount OPEC+ from the equation,” said OANDA’s Jeffrey Halley.  With AFP