Market falls; Bloomberry, Jollibee rise

The stock market declined Wednesday, ignoring Wall Street’s gains overnight as investors went into another consolidation mode.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 60.85 points, or 1 percent, to 5,738.39 on a value turnover of P6.4 billion. Losers overwhelmed gainers, 111 to 64, with 55 issues unchanged.

Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. dropped 4.6 percent to P27, while parent Ayala Corp. shed 2.5 percent to P692.

Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., however, advanced 5.1 percent to P6.60, while Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fast-food chain, rose 2.4 percent to P136.80.

The rest of Asian investors struggled to take the baton from their Wall Street counterparts Wednesday, though tech firms tracked another record on the Nasdaq, boosted by people staying at home.

Traders were also keeping an eye on Washington after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would reach out to the Democrats to work on pushing through a new stimulus package for the beleaguered US economy.

While the wall of cash and central bank pledges of ultra-low interest rates for some time has been key to firing a surge across equities, global titans such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft are miles ahead of the pack.

“The big theme right now is the unrelenting, record-breaking rally in tech stocks,” Candice Bangsund, at Fiera Capital Corp, said as the Nasdaq notched up a third straight record having rocketed a mind-boggling 80 percent from its March trough.

However, she added: “The landscape for stocks is great but there’s still, from a macro perspective, a lot of unknowns as to the progression of the virus and, of course, the implications for global growth.”

The run-up in US tech shares has been reflected in Asia and the sector was the standout in bourses across the region.

However, the gains were not enough to bring all the broader markets up.

Tokyo, Seoul, Wellington and Bangkok were all higher but there were losses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai and Jakarta.

Still, OANDA’s Edward Moya said: “With no chance that the Fed will be tightening over the next handful of years, investors continue to pile into stocks.”

Sydney was the best performer, though, rallying more than one percent after data showing Australia’s virus-hit economy fell into recession for the first time in three decades. Bargain-buying helped the ASX after three days of losses, though the Australian dollar was down 0.5 percent. 

Traders were also keeping an eye on Capitol Hill following reports Mnuchin had called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to discuss a new rescue package, after saying the world’s top economy needed help to get it through the crisis.

“What is most important is that we deliver some relief quickly to the American workers impacted by this,” he told a congressional hearing.

However, with the two sides about a trillion dollars apart on their proposals, Mnuchin is said to favor a slimmed-down deal, leaving more contentious elements out to deal with later in the year—a move Democrats have said they will not agree to. With AFP