PSEi down by 1.54% on China stocks slump, US Fed woes

THE LOCAL stock barometer fell sharply in thin trade on Monday on renewed China stock market rout alongside jitters over the US Federal Reserve’s forthcoming interest rate increase.

Ahead of Pres. Aquino’s last State-of-the-Nation address, the Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 118.08 points or 1.54 percent to close at 7,547.44, tracking the downturn seen in most regional markets.

After stabilizing in recent weeks, China’s stocks tumbled anew, with Shanghai composite index sliding by over 8 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling by over 3 percent due to concerns on a hard landing by the Chinese economy, the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world.

At the local market, all counters tumbled but the worst hit was the interest rate-sensitive property counter which slid by 2.91 percent. The financial and services counters also faltered by 1.8 percent and 1.29 percent, respectively.

Market breadth was negative as the 44 advancers were overwhelmed by 123 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led lower by SM stocks, particularly the most actively traded company BDO which fell by 3.24 percent.

BDO’s first semester net profit of P11.7 billion was up by 5.9 percent year-on-year but this accounted for only 46.6 percent of BDO’s full-year profit-guidance of P25.1 billion. For the second quarter alone, BDO’s net profit was flat year-on-year at P5.6 billion and was lower by 8 percent quarter-on-quarter.

SMPH was likewise down by 3.76 percent while parent SMIC slipped by 0.22 percent.

ALI, AGI, EDC and Bloomberry all slumped by over 2 percent while PLDT and AC were down by over 1 percent.

Meanwhile, URC and GTCAP also declined.

Among the notable decliners outside the PSEi were Melco (-8.92 percent) and Security Bank (-1.47 percent).

Meanwhile, Meralco bucked the day’s downturn, rising by 1.09 percent. The utility reported a 9-percent year-on-year rise in core six-month profit.