THE LOCAL stock barometer returned to the doldrums on Thursday, slipping below the 7,300 mark, due to jitters on the Chinese economy and uncertainties over the timing of much-anticipated US interest rate hikes.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 65.75 points or 0.9 percent to close at 7,278.98, tracking mostly battered regional markets. For the four-day trading week, the PSEi lost a total of 129.46 points or 1.74 percent as the second quarter local corporate earnings season ended on a lackluster note.
On Friday (Aug. 21), there will be no trading at the local stock market as this was declared as a non-working holiday in celebration of Ninoy Aquino day.
On Thursday, the PSEi’s decline was led by the property counter which fell by 1.06 percent while the financial, industrial, holding firm and services counters also slipped.
The only sub-index that bucked the day’s downturn was the mining/oil counter which rose by 2.47 percent led by Semirara which rose by 1.5 percent. Semirara has a dominant 44.79 percent in the mining/oil sub-index.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.8 billion. There were 63 advancers which were outnumbered by 95 decliners while 57 stocks were unchanged.
Meralco led the PSEi lower, tumbling by 3.23 percent while GTCAP, AC, EDC and Jollibee all fell by over 2 percent. ALI, BDO, BPI, Metrobank and Megaworld all slumped by over 1 percent. AGI, SMIC and PLDT also slipped.
Meanwhile, aside from Semirara, MPI, JG Summit and URC also defied the day’s downturn.
“Second quarter earnings have been flat to negative suggesting a more selective approach towards portfolio building. Investors are also more cautious ahead of GDP (Philippine gross domestic product) figures,” local stock brokerage DA Market Securities said.
In the first quarter, the local GDP growth rate of 5.2 percent disappointed markets.
DA Market said uncertainty over timing of interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve alongside the yuan devaluation also continued to weigh down markets.
Based on the latest US Fed minutes, there was consensus that the U.S. economy was nearing the inflection point where interest rates should rise. However, there was concern over lagging inflation and a weak global economy, which therefore cast doubts on whether interest rates will indeed be lifted by September as what most investors expect.
With PSEi breaking past 7,400 or the 300-day moving average, DA Market said the index may next test next key support levels at 7,200 or 7,000.
“Holding the support implies continued consolidation with 7,600-7,700 as important resistance,” the brokerage said.