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Friday, March 29, 2024

Volatile trading expected at start of Q4

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Trading at the local stock market is expected to remain volatile at the start of the fourth quarter as global economies continue to fight rising inflation and interest rates.

Analysts said investors were expecting more turbulence this week, following last week’s deep decline.

Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said investors were concerned over rate-hiking decisions by the US Federal Reserve and their impact on the global markets.

The continued weakening of the peso against the dollar also contributed to the gloomy prospects amid the hawkish outlook of the US Fed.

Several analysts predicted the peso could hit 60 a dollar this week, after it fell to an intra-day low of 59.02 last week.

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The Philippine Stock Exchange index plunged 8.3 percent last week to close at 5,741.07, while the broader all-share index fell 6.9 percent to 3,107.90 amid headwinds. The benchmark index was down 19.4 percent since the start of the year.

All sectoral indices ended in the red. Property retreated by 9.36 percent last week; holding firms, 9.35 percent; services, 8.2 percent; industrial, 6.2 percent; mining and oil, 6.1 percent; and financial, 5.4 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers last week by P13.5 billion as the average trading volume improved to P9.8 billion from the previous week’s P5.2 billion. With AFP

The top gainers last week were Wilcon Depot Inc., which rose 7.6 percent to P31.95; Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., 1.9 percent to P21.35; and Robinsons Land Corp., 1.2 percent to P16.48.

Heavy losers included Megawide Construction Corp., which fell 16.8 percent to P3.60; Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., 15.3 percent to P1.60; and GT Capital Corp., 14.1 percent to P415.60.

Meanwhile, Wall Street stocks ended decisively lower Friday to conclude another difficult week defined by worries over inflation and the worsening Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A closely-watched measure of US inflation released Friday showed the annual pace of price increases slowed slightly in August compared with the prior month.

However, the inflation rate still exceeded analyst expectations, a dynamic that will likely keep the Federal Reserve on its current path to hike interest rates aggressively. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, a proxy for interest rates, rose closer to four percent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday annexed four parts of Ukraine, staging a grand ceremony in Moscow hours after shelling killed 30 people in Ukraine’s southern region of Zaporizhzhia in one of the worst attacks against civilians in months.

On Wall Street, the broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,585.62, down 1.5 percent for the day and almost three percent for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.7 percent to close at 28,75.51, while the tech0rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.5 percent to 10,575.61.

Among individual companies, Nike plummeted 12.8 percent after reporting lower profits on Thursday as the company marks down less-desired merchandise in North America amid an inventory glut and shifting consumer market challenged by inflation. With AFP

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