The stock market fell Thursday on speculations the US Fed will finally raise interest rate next week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 27.65 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,820.60 on a value turnover of P6.5 billion. Losers overwhelmed gainers, 110 to 45, with 54 issues unchanged.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the biggest telecommunications firm, declined 2.9 percent to P2,054, while rival Globe Telecom Inc. slumped 4.1 percent to P1,841.
Alliance Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan dropped 2.9 percent to P16.22, while unit Megaworld Corp., the largest lessor of office spaces, also tumbled 2.9 percent to 4.34.
A sense of unease, meanwhile, spread across Asian stock exchanges Thursday with investors spooked by the sharp sell-off in oil sending regional markets lower.
With crude sitting around seven-year lows energy firms came under further pressure, following more losses on Wall Street.
“Today is all about risk-off moves. Oil is still excessively low at this price—concerns this will be the status quo is making investors avoid risk for now,” Mitsushige Akino, executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.
While oil prices edged up in early Asian trade, the gains were marginal compared with the losses of around nine percent suffered since the Opec cartel on Friday decided against cutting output despite a global glut and weak demand. With AFP