Market climbs; ICTSI, Monde Nissin advance

Stocks rose Thursday as the market welcomed the new economic team announced by president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 47.76 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,645.52 on a value turnover of over P6 billion. Gainers edged losers, 96 to 90 with 44 issues unchanged.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., the biggest port operator, advanced 4.5 percent to P220, while noodles maker Monde Nissin Corp. gained 4.3 percent at P16.46.

Fiber broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. increased 2.2 percent to P26.05, while Jollibee Foods Corp., the largest fast-food chain, added 1.2 percent to P213.

Meanwhile, Asian markets mostly fell Thursday as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned the world’s number two economy was in some ways worse off now than during the early days of the pandemic.

Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Taipei and Wellington were all down, while Shanghai, Mumbai, Singapore and Bangkok edged up.

Li’s comments dealt a blow to confidence from the start and overshadowed a positive lead from Wall Street fueled by minutes indicating a less hawkish stand from the US Federal Reserve.

The wind was immediately taken out of traders’ sails as they digested the warning, which comes as China persists with a zero-COVID policy to eradicate the fast-spreading Omicron virus variant.

The economic agony caused by lockdowns and other strict containment measures hammered growth across China and sent shockwaves globally as key supply chains were brought to a halt.

Data in recent weeks have shown that a series of pledges by Beijing to kickstart growth has essentially fallen flat owing to a lack of concrete action, while analysts say the easing of the COVID policy was the only thing investors wanted to see.

“Economic indicators in China have fallen significantly, and difficulties in some aspects and to a certain extent are greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020,” Li told an emergency meeting Wednesday with representatives from local governments, state-owned companies and financial firms.

He also urged officials to work to pull unemployment down.

There is a general feeling among commentators that China’s economic growth will fall well short of the government’s target of about 5.5 percent. Expansion came in at 2.2 percent in 2020.

S&P Global Ratings this month lowered its full-year growth forecast for China from 4.9 percent to 4.2 percent, while Nomura analysts warned in a recent note that there is “increasing potential for negative GDP growth in the second quarter.”

Economists at Goldman Sachs said: “Chinese policy makers are in greater urgency to support the economy after the very weak activity growth in April, anemic recovery month-to-date in May, and continued increases in unemployment rates.”

Traders had been given a positive lead from Wall Street as minutes from the Fed’s May policy meeting indicated that while officials would likely hike rates by 50 basis points at each of the next two gatherings, they were aware of the impact on the economy. With AFP