The stock market closed lower Thursday after rising in mid-trading, joining the rest of the region and ending a three-day rally.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index slipped 2.01 points, or 0.03 percent to 7,106.79 on a value turnover of P6.5 billion.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the biggest telecommunications firm, tumbled 3.4 percent to P2,300, while rival Globe Telecom Inc. dropped 2.1 percent to P2,282.
LT Group Inc. of tobacco and airline tycoon Lucio Tan bucked the trend, climbing 2.4 percent to P11.78.
GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty rose 1.3 percent to P1,359, while Ayala Land Inc. added 1.1 percent to P36.35.
Chinese shares surged Thursday as dealers returned from a week-long break that saw a global advance, but a regional rally mostly petered out, with Tokyo ending a six-day winning streak.
Most emerging market currencies retreated in the afternoon, with traders picking up profits as a rally over the past week—fueled by waning expectations of a US interest rate—ran out of steam.
Shanghai’s composite index was the stand-out performer, having been closed when a below-forecast US jobs report dented the Fed’s plans to tighten monetary policy and Beijing unveiled targeted stimulus measures.
Talk that US borrowing costs would be maintained at record lows for a little longer has put a fire under global markets this week, having been pressured by fears about narrower investment opportunities.
“During the National Day holiday, regional markets including Hong Kong, and the United States have all gone up, which had a major positive impact,” Zhang Qi, an analyst from Haitong Securities, told AFP.
This month has seen a broadly strong advance across global markets after they suffered one of their worst quarters in years, battered by the US rate fears as well as concerns over China’s struggling economy. With AFP