Stocks retreated Tuesday, in line with the movement of Asian markets, as a sell-off in technology shares overshadowed a record close on Wall Street and a rally in energy firms.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 32 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 7,833.96, as four of the six major sectors declined.
The broader all-share index also tumbled 8 points, or 0.2 percent, to settle at 4,696.90, on a value turnover of P4.7 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 109 to 94, while 41 issues were unchanged.
Eleven of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by STI Education Systems Holdings Inc. which surged 11 percent to P1.62 and East West Banking Corp. which jumped 8.9 percent to P30.65. Bloomberry Resorts Corp. advanced 4.3 percent to P9.65.
Meanwhile, Asian markets reversed early gains Tuesday to sit mostly down in the afternoon. After surging on years of low borrowing costs, the tech sector is suffering selling pressure from profit-taking around the world and increasing talk among central banks that the age of cheap money is coming to an end.
With big-name firms such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet suffering in recent weeks, their Asian counterparts are also feeling the pinch.
In Hong Kong, internet giant Tencent sank 3.5 percent and speaker-maker AAC Technologies dived 2.9 percent, Tokyo-listed Sony lost 1.7 percent and Sharp dived 1.9 percent. Samsung Electronics retreated 0.5 percent in Seoul.
And those fed through to broader markets, while traders have also been spooked by news that North Korea had tested its first missile that could reach the United States.
Tokyo ended down 0.1 percent, Seoul slipped 0.6 percent and while Singapore gave back 0.5 percent and Taipei 0.6 percent. Shanghai was off 0.4 percent.
Hong Kong plunged 1.5 percent, with Kenny Wen, a strategist at Sun Hung Kai Financial in Hong Kong, telling Bloomberg News: “Many investors were betting 25,500 was the supporting level for the Hang Seng Index and have bought lots of futures on it.
“As the index fell below that level this morning, some people got panicked and chose to sell their holdings.”
However, Sydney ended 1.8 percent higher after a more the two percent dive in the previous two days and as Australia’s central bank held off raising interest rates.
The losses came despite a positive lead from Wall Street where the Dow chalked up another record high ahead of Independence Day celebrations.
Crude lost around a fifth of its value between mid-May and mid-June, hitting 10-month lows, as traders fretted that a pick-up in US output was offsetting cuts by OPEC and Russia.
But it has recovered around half of those losses in recent weeks as US firms have cut the number of rigs pumping, easing supply glut worries.
While both main contracts dipped on Tuesday, regional energy firms tracked the previous day’s gains of around two percent on the oil market.
PetroChina and CNOOC surged in Hong Kong, while Tokyo-listed Inpex was more than one percent up.
However, refiner Idemitsu Kosan plunged more than 11 percent in Japan after saying it plans to raise up to $1.2 billion in a share sale despite opposition from its founding family to a merger with rival Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. Showa Shell soared more than seven percent. With Bloomberg, AFP