spot_img
28.3 C
Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Stocks advance; Ayala Land up

- Advertisement -

The stock market climbed Thursday on bargain-hunting but renewed concerns about China-US tensions overshadowed a positive lead from Wall Street following a better-than-expected round of corporate earnings.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 62.50 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,927.20 on a value turnover of P14.2 billion. Gainers edged losers, 101 to 99, with 51 issues unchanged.

Ayala Land Inc. Inc. gained 4.4 percent to P45, while SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. climbed 3.5 percent to P38.30.

Alliance Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan advanced 4.3 percent to P13.96, while property unit Megaworld Corp., the biggest lessor of office spaces, increased 2.7 percent to P5.27.

The rest of Asian markets were mixed Thursday.

- Advertisement -

The pound extended gains against the dollar after Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote as she prepares to draw up new proposals to leave the European Union that are palatable to a majority of Mps.

Hong Kong eased 0.5 percent in the afternoon and Shanghai closed down 0.4 percent while Tokyo slipped 0.2 percent by the end. Singapore eased 0.4 percent.

But Sydney edged up 0.3 percent and Seoul put on 0.1 percent while Taipei, Wellington and Jakarta were also in positive territory.

After a tumultuous December, global equities have enjoyed a broadly strong start to the year, largely thanks to optimism China and the US will resolve their trade row.

But confidence took a knock Wednesday from a report that said  US officials were carrying out a criminal probe into Chinese  tech giant Huawei and could soon indict the firm over allegations of theft of trade secrets from its US business partners.

Lawmakers have also introduced a bill to ban the export of American parts and components to Chinese telecom companies that are in violation of US export control or sanctions laws—with Huawei and fellow Chinese firm ZTE the likely targets.

“Huawei is effectively an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party whose founder and CEO was an engineer for the People’s Liberation Army,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton, one of the bill’s sponsors.

The developments follow the arrest last year in Canada of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is the daughter of the company founder and faces extradition to the US on Iran-linked fraud charges.

It also muddies the waters in trade talks between Beijing and Washington, which looked to be on a positive course after officials held three days of talks earlier this month, with both sides seemingly upbeat.

On Wall Street all three main indexes closed with gains after earnings reports from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs that overshot forecasts, while executives said they were confident the US economy was in rude health.

The Federal Reserve’s closely followed “Beige Book” report pointed out that political and trade uncertainty was weighing on business confidence though growth was continuing at a modest pace in most of the country. With AFP

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles