Stocks slumped for the fourth straight day Monday, joining the rest of Asian markets as investors juggle a number of negative issues that have fueled worries about the global outlook.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index sank 112.85 points, or 1.5 percent, to 7,348.21 on a value turnover of P14.8 billion. About P9.7 billion worth of shares of Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp. were crossed by majority holder MCO (Philippines) Investments Ltd. Monday, representing the shares tendered to the public.
Losers overwhelmed gainers, 134 to 59, with 43 issues unchanged.
SM Investments Corp. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. dropped 4.3 percent to P900, while conglomerate San Miguel Corp. fell 3.1 percent to P157.10.
Asiabest Group International Inc. tumbled 13.3 percent to P25 after a minority shareholder asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to stop the ongoing tender offer and planned backdoor listing of Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. The shareholder accused Tiger Resorts of allegedly violating the Securities Regulation Code when it failed to disclose in a tender offer report the intra-corporate dispute involving the major shareholder of Tiger Resorts.
ISM Communications Corp., a member of the group declared by the government as the country’s third major telecommunications firm, lost 3.2 percent to P5.74.
The rest of Asian markets sank. The China-US trade row, the Huawei crisis, signs of weakness in the Chinese and US economies, and Brexit are among the key matters depressing equities, though there was some upbeat news in Opec’s decision to slash crude production.
Equity markets, which have been buffeted by the trade row this year—and were hammered by the arrest last week—were down on Monday, tracking heavy losses in New York.
Hong Kong shed 1.4 percent, while Shanghai fell 0.8 percent.
Tokyo lost 2.1 percent, with Japanese car giant Nissan dropping 2.9 percent after ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn was charged and faced new allegations for alleged financial misconduct.
Sydney shed 2.3 percent, while Singapore and Seoul each gave up 1.1 percent. There were also losses for Taipei and Wellington.
On Sunday, China summoned the US ambassador to protest at the arrest of top Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada last week over allegations of fraud linked to the breaking of Iran sanctions.
An angry China has demanded Washington drop its extradition request, as investors fret that the arrest could throw a spanner in the works of a fragile trade war truce between Beijing and Washington.
“Huawei… will likely remain in the headlines for some time as China continues to pressure both Canada and US to withdraw charges,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at OANDA.
“It’s more than apparent that US-China tensions are well beyond trade. And when combined with the fact ‘tariffs-limbo’ is likely to extend well into 2019, uncertainty is expected to remain high, and could still explode into a full-blown trade war.”
Still, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he did not expect the arrest to disrupt the talks. With AFP