PSEi also buckles after ‘Tariff Man’ muddles hope for trade war end

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) retreated on Wednesday, as news on a slowdown in inflation failed to overcome the big sell-off in Wall Street overnight.

The PSEi ended the session down 0.95 percent, or 73.02 points, to 7,630.90 while the all-shares index slid lower by 0.62 percent, or 28.3 points, to 4,574.16.

The drop came as investors decided to lock profits and after US stocks, led by the near-800 point wipeout at the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell on fresh uncertainties over US-China trade relations.

In a tweet, US President Donald Trump described himself a “Tariff Man” and said: “When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so.”

“It’s profit taking after the quick run up,” said April Lee Tan, research head at COL Financial Group Inc. “The US market was also very weak last night.”

Data from the PSE showed a total of 1.66 billion shares valued at P8.3 billion changed hands yesterday. Decliners and gainers were almost evenly matched at 98 to 96, while 34 companies closed unchanged.

The mining and oil and industrial subsectors bucked the downward trend, ending the session higher by 0.38 percent and 0.10 percent, respectively. Losers were led by holding firms, down 1.4 percent.

Property giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. was the most actively traded for the day as it lost 1.6 percent to P36.80 per share.

It was followed by Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., down 1.56 percent to P53.60; Ayala Land Inc., down 0.35 percent to P42.50; Ayala Corp., down 1.08 percent to P960; and SM Investments Corp., down 2.04 percent to P960 per share.