The stock market declined Monday on worries about China, the world’s number two economy, amid holiday-thinned trading.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 18.81 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,983.61 on a value turnover of P3.08 billion. Gainers, however, beat losers, 91 to 63, with 45 issues unchanged.
Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, fell 1.4 percent to P183.20, while Jollibee Foods Corp., the largest fastfood chain, dropped 0.9 percent to P222.
SM Prime Holdings Inc., the biggest property company, lost 1.6 percent to P22.05, while Ayala Land Inc., the second-largest, declined 3.2 percent to P34.55.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-biggest lender in terms of assets, rose 2.8 percent to P81.70, while Petron Corp., the larger of the two oil refineries, gained 1.9 percent to P7.11.
The rest of Asian markets broadly fell Monday as a decline in profits at China’s industrial firms reignited worries about the world’s number two economy, but bargain-buying helped Tokyo snap a five-day losing streak.
Industrial profits declined 1.4 percent to 672.1 billion yuan ($104 billion) in November, according to data released on Sunday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
“We see weakness across industries, with few signs of improvement,” Steve Wang, chief China economist at Reorient Financial Markets in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News.
The fresh figures weighed on mainland markets with Shanghai down 2.59 percent and Shenzhen off 2.18 percent by the close.
Most other regional markets were also in the red.
Seoul closed down 1.34 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 1.08 percent lower in afternoon trade, Taiwan slipped 0.06 percent and Singapore fell 0.12 percent.
However, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.56 percent by the close as bargain-buying and a weaker yen lifted the market.
Sydney and Wellington were closed for a public holiday.
Shares in China Telecom dropped as much as three percent after news its head was under investigation for “severe disciplinary violations,” the latest high-profile target in a corruption crackdown.
On currency markets the dollar rose to 120.53 yen from 120.19 Friday in Tokyo, as investors bought back the US currency after it hit a two-month low against the Japanese unit last week.
