External factors drag down Philippines stocks

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine shares tumbled on the first day of trading in 2016 amid weak factory activity in China and rising tensions in the Middle East, analysts said.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index plunged 118.66 points to close at 6,833.42, whilethebroaderAllSharesindexdeclined59.68 points or 1.50 percent.

All other indexes closed in negative territory, with the mining and oil and holding firms indexes posting the biggest declines.

Value turnover was thin at P2.989 billion as decliners outnumbered advancers, 120 to 42 while 36 stocks were left unchanged.

“An early rush of economic data from China and strings of trouble in the Middle East drew mixed reactions, mainly negative for equities and positive for oil and hedging assets, keeping stock market investors at bay as 2016 trading went underway,” said Justino Calaycay of Philstocks Financial Inc.

Other Asian markets were also down yesterday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia- Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7 percent, after shedding nearly 12 percent in 2015 as China’s cooling economy took a toll on its trade-reliant Asian neighbors and global commodity prices.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.6 percent to 2-1/2-month lows, while mainland China shares tumbled more than four percent.

Adding to worries about China, its central bank fixed the yuan at a 4-1/2-year low, while manufacturing surveys showed any hopes for a recovery in that sector were premature.