The stock market rose Wednesday in late trading to snap an eight-day slump, ignoring the losses in the region and in New York and Europe overnight.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 35.29 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,081.86 on a value turnover of P6.6 billion. Losers, however, beat gainers, 116 to 61, with 53 issues unchanged.
SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. added 1.8 percent to P22.90, while JG Summnit Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei advanced 3.2 percent to P81.50. Aboitiz Power Corp. of the Aboitiz Group rose 2.1 percent to P45.50.
Security Bank Corp., the sixth largest lender in terms of capital, fell 1.7 percent to P173, while Puregold Price Club Inc. of retail tycoon Lucio Co tumbled 3 percent to P38.10.
The rest of Asian stocks declined as fresh fears over the global economy sparked a flight to safe investments.
After enjoying a healthy run of recent gains, traders have been spooked by a string of disappointing data from China to Europe and the United States that led them to question whether hopes of a nascent recovery were overdone.
The losses were compounded in Sydney, where mining giant BHP Billiton plunged more than nine percent on news that Brazilian prosecutors had slapped it with a $43-billion lawsuit over November’s deadly Samarco dam disaster.
Sydney closed 1.5 percent down while Hong Kong ended down 0.7 percent. Seoul shed 0.5 percent and Singapore gave up 1.3 percent in late trade.
Taipei sank 1.3 percent while there were also big losses in Jakarta as first-quarter economic growth in Indonesia—Southeast Asia’s biggest economy—missed forecasts. With AFP