Stocks slip on rising Middle East tension

The local stock barometer slipped on Monday as geopolitical risks in the Middle East tempered risk-taking across markets in the region.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 41.92 points or 0.53 percent to close at 7,797.87.

Outside of the PSEi, beleaguered water concessionaire Manila Water rebounded by 4.12 percent ahead of President Duterte’s announcement on the fate of its water concession along with that held by Maynilad Water Services Inc.

Shares of blue chip companies related to MWC and Maynilad also gained.

Overall, the market traded with caution as the recent US airstrike in Iran, which killed a top Iranian military commander, escalated geopolitical risks.

“The US and Iran have been trading threats since the assassination of Iran’s top general last Friday. Investors have been fleeing riskier assets for safe havens like gold,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at local stock brokerage AAA Equities.

After the long holidays, Mangun said investors have not fully come back into the market as manifested by the meager value turnover. Excluding block trades, he noted that the value turnover of P3.66 billion was just a little over half of the daily average in the past.

“Recent geopolitical tensions are keeping investors cautious, which is to be expected. Despite this, we did see a more than 90-point recovery as the index came all the way down to 7,700 in the morning trading session. This tells us that investors that are currently in the market remain somewhat optimistic that our market’s fundamentals remain intact,” Mangun said.

The main local index was weighed down most by the property counter, which lost 1.21 percent.

The financial, industrial, holding firm and services counters also slipped.

On the other hand, the mining/oil counter firmed up.

There were 114 decliners that outnumbered 80 advancers, while 45 stocks were unchanged. Total value turnover amounted to P4.1 billion, including block trades.

Bloomberry lost 3.22 percent after a Singapore high court upheld a 2016 ruling by a Singapore arbitration court favoring Global Gaming Asset Management (GGAM), the Las Vegas firm that sued two Bloomberry units for what it claimed was an unjust ouster as manager of Solaire Resort Manila. INQ