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Friday, March 29, 2024

Market extends losses; ISM up

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Stocks fell for a third day, dragging down the benchmark index to a near two-year low, as investors fret over a number of issues from the China-US trade war and Brexit to rising US interest rates and slowing economic growth.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 82 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 6,843.83 Tuesday, its lowest since it settled at 6,840.64 on Dec. 29, 2016.  The bellwether was down 20 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also tumbled 41 points, or 1 percent, to finish at 4,211.13, on a value turnover of P8.2 billion.  Losers outnumbered gainers, 155 to 55, while 36 issues were unchanged.

Three of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by ISM Communications Corp. of businessman Dennis Uy which climbed another 8 percent to P8.10 and Globe Telecom Inc. which recovered 4.3 percent to P1,830.  International Container Terminal Services Inc. of businessman Enrique Razon gained 1 percent to P92.90.

Meanwhile, technology firms fell in Asia Tuesday, tracking a deep sell-off in New York where Apple was hammered by worries about demand for its iPhones, while energy firms also fell with oil prices.

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The latest retreat comes after a key parts supplier said a client—widely taken to be Apple—had  slashed orders, stoking speculation the US titan’s popular handset was not selling as well as in the past.

Apple was already under pressure after posting disappointing earnings earlier this month and announcing it would no longer report iPhone sale numbers. The firm sank five percent Monday and is almost 17 percent down from its record high touched at the start of October.

The retreat in New York’s tech firms was repeated in Asia, with Apple suppliers and other firms in the sector taking a severe hit.

In Tokyo, Japan Display collapsed 9.5 percent to its lowest since listing in 2014, Alps Electronics sank more than four percent, and Sony was off almost 2.7 percent. Taiwan Semiconductor dived 1.7 percent in Taipei.

Samsung shed 1.6 percent in Seoul and AAC Technologies retreated one percent in Hong Kong.

However, there were some recoveries thanks to bargain-buying, with Tencent up 0.4 percent in the afternoon in Hong Kong, while Foxconn closed up 1.6 percent in Taipei.

Broader markets, while mostly down, also pared initial losses. Tokyo dropped two percent and Hong Kong slipped 0.3 percent, while Shanghai finished up, adding 0.9 percent.

Sydney was 1.8 percent lower, while Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Wellington were all in negative territory. Mumbai, Bangkok and Jakarta were higher.

Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at Oanda, remained downbeat about the outlook.

“While regional equity markets are bouncing off the session lows, the toxic mix of negative inputs will continue to weigh on sentiment,” he said in a note.

“With global equities continuing to trend lower it paints a much less compelling picture for those looking to bargain hunt and pick up some arguably undervalued pockets in the Asia equity basket.”

Energy firms were skittled by another dive in oil prices.

Crude has been torpedoed since hitting four-year highs last month as dealers fret about oversupply, weakening demand and worries about the impact of the China-US trade war.

Signs of a softer-than-expected impact from US sanctions on Iranian crude exports also weighed on prices.

The commodity enjoyed a healthy rise early Monday after Saudi Arabia called for a global output cut of one million barrels per day and unveiled plans to trim its own production by 500,000 barrels from December.

However, Donald Trump later hit out at the announcement in a tweet calling for prices to go lower.

“Hopefully, Saudi Arabia and OPEC will not be cutting oil production. Oil prices should be much lower based on supply!” he wrote. With AFP

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