Market takes wait and see stance amid US shutdown

MANILA, Philippines - The first US Federal government partial shutdown in 17 years prompted local stock market investors to unload shares and adopt a wait and see strategy.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index was virtually unchanged, rising by a measly 0.10 percent or 6.04 points to 6,197.84 while the broader all shares index added 0.14 percent or 5.26 points to 3,763.49.

“Markets held on to the morning gains for a while, taking time to digest the latest development,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

“Yet as the afternoon session progressed it became evident investors found the sidelines a more enticing place to ride out the uncertainty as to how long the shutdown will last,” Calaycay said.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.84 percent percent or 128.57 points to 15,129.67 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 0.6 percent or 10.2 points to 1,681.55 due to the deadlock.

Regional markets were also on their toes but closed mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.20 percent or 28.92 points to 14,484.72 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.5 percent or 347.18 points to 22,859.86.

In the local scene, most counters were in the red, paced by mining and oil that declined 1.02 percent or 124.90 points to 12,125.79. But the service sector managed to end 0.45 percent or 8.90 points higher at 2,002.23, again driven by the Gokongwei family’s entry into Manila Electric Co. (+3.15 percent).