The stock market fell slightly Monday after losses on Wall Street and in Europe, with oil prices down and the yen recovering some of the losses suffered at the end of last week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 5.26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,250.13 on a value turnover of P6.04 billion. Losers beat gainers, 112 to 86, with 45 issues unchanged.
Ayala Land Inc., the second-biggest builder, lost 1.6 percent to P34.15, while BDO Unibank Inc., the largest lender in terms of assets and capital, declined 2.1 percent to P101.50.
Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei fell 2.9 percent to P77.60, while technology stock Xurpas Inc. tumbled 5.7 percent to P17.32.
The rest of Asian markets sank again Monday, as dealers moved cautiously at the start of a busy week that includes policy meetings at the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan, as well as earnings reports from big-name firms including Sony and Nintendo.
The losses follow a sell-off Friday that was fueled by profit-taking from a recent rally.
Mitsubishi Motors dived almost five percent to extend its losses to a fourth session, having crashed more than 40 percent between Wednesday and Friday after admitting cheating on fuel-efficiency tests.
On Friday the engine rigging scandal that has already battered German giant Volkswagen spread to other car titans as Berlin said a probe found 16 major brands had shown irregularities.
Among the firms dragged into the crisis are Japan’s Nissan, France’s Renault and Italy’s Fiat. Nissan ended down 0.6 percent in Tokyo.
Japan’s Nikkei index closed 0.8 percent lower, with a recovery in the yen weighing on exporters.
Hong Kong ended 0.8 percent lower and Shanghai closed down 0.4 percent while Seoul and Singapore were also in negative territory.
In early European trade London and Frankfurt were each up 0.1 percent but Paris slid 0.2 percent
Sydney and Wellington were closed for the ANZAC Day public holiday.
The Japanese unit sank against the dollar Friday on a report that the country’s central bank was considering helping financial companies by offering them negative rates on some loans.
The dollar was at 111.25 yen, having risen to 111.80 yen Friday in New York from 109.31 yen earlier in the day.
The yen’s move “on Friday was an over-reaction to speculation that the BoJ might be willing to lend to commercial banks with negative interest rates”, Gareth Berry, a foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie Bank in Singapore, told Bloomberg News. With AFP
Sony slumped six percent after warning Friday it was delaying its profit forecast for the current fiscal year as it assesses the impact of this month’s double earthquakes in southern Japan.
Oil prices slipped as persistent worries over a global supply glut weigh against hopes China’s growth slowdown may be ending and talk that major producers will work towards agreeing output limits.
Adding to the selling pressure was a report that Saudi Arabia could maintain its total production capacity with the expansion of an oilfield, fueling fresh concerns about the global supply glut. With AFP
