Index rises as market bucks regional downtrend

MANILA, Philippines -  Local share prices bucked the general downtrend in most Asian stocks, gaining 9.42 points to settle at 5,446.71.

Most Asian stock markets were down yesterday after a ratings agency threatened to downgrade the US if a solution to the so-called fiscal cliff isn’t negotiated among lawmakers and newly re-elected President Barack Obama. If a deal isn’t reached by Jan. 1, tax increases and government spending cuts to the tune of $800 billion automatically take effect. Some economists say such a withdrawal of fiscal stimulus has the potential to throw the world’s biggest economy back into recession.

At the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), most  sectoral  indices ended in negative territory, led by mining and oil that declined 93.37 points to 19,697.01 and industrial that sank  40.26 points to 8,584.10. Holding firms went down 13.15 points to 4,675.01, while services eased 1.92 points to 1,721.88.

Property, however, bucked the downtrend and jumped   31.83 points to 2,099.15 while financials added 2.41 points to 1,418.72.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 99 to 51, while 59 stocks were unchanged. Among actively-traded stocks, BDO Unibank Inc. rose P2.70 to P67.70, while Ayala Land Inc. added 90 centavos to P23.15. 

Across Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index retreated 135.74 points  to 8,837.15. The government reported that seasonally adjusted private-sector machinery orders, excluding volatile orders for ships and utilities, fell 4.3 percent in September. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 532.94 points  21,566.90. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.3 percent to 1,913.68. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.8 percent lower at 4,479.60. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and mainland China all fell one percent or more.

Another blow to investor confidence stems from corporate America’s less-than-stellar third-quarter earnings reports, said Lorraine Tan, director at Standard & Poor’s equity research in Singapore.