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Friday, March 29, 2024

Market rallies to snap 3-day slump; Globe, Emperador up

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The stock market rose Thursday on bargain hunting and the strong performance of Wall Street overnight to snap a three-day slump.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 88.23 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,968.43 on a value turnover of P7.4 billion. Gainers beat losers, 103 to 90, with 47 issues unchanged.

Emperador Inc., the biggest liquor maker and owned by tycoon Andrew Tan, surged 6.2 percent to P18.02, while Aboitiz Power Corp. of the Aboitiz Group increased 4.3 percent to P31.60.

Globe Telecom Inc. of the Ayala Group, the second-largest mobile phone firm, advanced 5.3 percent to P3,200, while sister unit AC Energy Corp. gained 3.8 percent at P10.48.

The rest of Asian markets struggled Thursday to recover from the previous day’s sell-off, with Hong Kong dragged by further losses in casinos as well as tech firms following government crackdowns on the sectors.

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Wall Street’s robust performance was not enough to spur buying in the region, where concerns about the spreading Delta coronavirus variant and its impact on the economic rebound are draining confidence.

Traders are also keeping tabs on developments in China, where one of its biggest property developers, Evergrande, is drowning in a sea of debt that could see it crash into a bankruptcy observers fear could have a severe impact on the world’s number-two economy and beyond.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Wellington, Jakarta and Taipei also fell, though Sydney, Singapore, Mumbai and Jakarta edged higher.

Hong Kong led losses, extending its streak to a fourth straight day, with Macau casinos back in the spotlight after Wednesday’s crash fueled by city authorities’ plans to tighten its control of the industry.

Trillions of dollars were wiped off the valuations of the six listed firms in reaction to the proposals, which include putting a government representative on their boards.

The announcement fanned concerns that the days of multi-billion-dollar revenues are gone in Macau, which before the pandemic raked in more in a week than Las Vegas did in a month.

US-owned Wynn Macau and Sands China were among the worst-hit, and their heavy losses extended into Thursday. The firms’ US stocks were also taking a hammering on Wall Street.

Melco, MGM, Galaxy Entertainment and SJM fared a little less badly.

Macau’s proposed clampdown comes as officials in mainland China tighten their grip on a range of private enterprises in a drive to reform the business and cultural landscape and achieve President Xi Jinping’s goal of “cultural prosperity.”

Tech firms, which are high on officials’ list of targets, also extended a long-running sell-off in Hong Kong with market heavyweights Alibaba and Tencent again in the red.

“The regulatory crackdown… threatens to slow the domestic growth momentum with many China commentators seeing a pivot away from maximizing growth, to social order and stability,” said National Australia Bank’s Tapas Strickland. With AFP

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