The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 20.24 points to close at 6,502.85 on Tuesday as the market succumbed to profit-taking.
The broader all-shares index also fell 6.65 points to settle at 3,463.81 on a value turnover of P4.15 billion.
Decliners edged out advancers, 84 to 82, with 55 issues unchanged.
Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said the Wall Street’s tech sell-off dragged investors sentiments.
Financial markets will be closed Wednesday in observance of Eid’l Adha (Feast of Sacrifice).
Meanwhile, Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday after more than a week of losses but traders remained anxious about central banks’ plans to continue hiking interest rates to fight stubborn inflation.
The more positive environment came as concerns over Russia subsided following an aborted uprising, though developments in the nuclear-armed country are being closely followed as President Vladimir Putin faces the biggest test of his rule.
With the events in eastern Europe a little less worrying for now, focus has returned to the battle against surging inflation, which has dogged global markets this year.
Last week’s warning from US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell that rates would likely need to go higher dealt a blow to hopes that officials were at the end of close to completing their tightening cycle.
While the Fed stood pat this month, his comments came as central banks elsewhere continued to push borrowing costs higher and indicated more were in the pipeline.
The Fed said the decision at the next policy meeting at the end of July will be determined by incoming data, putting the focus on upcoming releases, including Friday’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index—the central bank’s preferred measure of inflation.
But analysts warned that investors face more pain this year, while there is a growing concern that the tightening could tip economies into recession, as has happened in the eurozone.
“I’m not sure we have felt the full efect of the whole inflation cycle,” Nancy Daoud, at Ameriprise Financial Services, told Bloomberg Television.
“Those rate hikes are very, very likely in July and in early fall.”Most Asian markets rose, brushing of losses on Wall Street.
Hong Kong climbed more than two percent after five days of losses, while Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai and Bangkok also rose.
Tokyo, Seoul Jakarta and Taipei retreated.
London, Paris and Frankfurt opened in positive territory.
Sentiment was boosted by comments from Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, who said the government would roll out fresh measures to kick start the struggling economy and boost domestic demand.
He also told global political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in northern China that the country would achieve its five percent growth target this year.
His remarks came after markets were lef disappointed when officials failed to provide details of a hoped-for raft of stimulus measures, while interest rate cuts by the Chinese central bank provided only a brief lif.
Oil rose again though traders remain caught between supply concerns caused by the Russia crisis and demand uncertainty as investors fret over surging interest rates.
And the ruble held losses after weakening to levels not seen since the early months of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, with a wary eye still being kept on developments in Moscow.
Putin on Monday accused Ukraine and its Western allies of wanting Russians to “kill each other” during the revolt by mercenaries from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group.
Prigozhin earlier defended the mutiny as a bid to save his fighters and expose the failures of Russia’s military leadership over the Ukraine war — but not to challenge the Kremlin.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said officials were monitoring events “very closely”.
Meanwhile, in a fresh sign of optimism for China-US relations, reports said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen planned to meet her counterpart in Beijing next month.
The talks would come soon after Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the country, where he spoke to his opposite number and President Xi Jinping. A summit between Xi and President Joe Biden has also been flagged. With AFP
