Market snaps 2-day climb, tracks Walls Street drop

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices once again tracked Wall Street’s overnight performance, but this time on a downward path.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index closed the week in the negative territory, snapping its two-day ascent as it fell by 0.89 percent or 56.38 points to 6,266.75.

The broader All Shares index also ended in the loss column, slipping by 0.49 percent or 18.20 points to 3,727.12.

Asian markets limped into the weekend yesterday following a tepid lead from Wall Street as the optimism stoked by a dovish US Federal Reserve meeting gave way to long-running fears about Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.

“Philippine and US equities slipped as economic uncertainty stalled a market rebound while other investors followed the latest FTSE rebalancing,” Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said.

“The Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, projected two cuts in 2025 and flagged tariffs as a risk to growth. Traders expect no policy moves until the impact of Trump’s tariff plans becomes clearer, with a key exemption expiring April 2,” he said.

“On the local front, investors kept note of when the Fed and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas signaled plans to resume monetary easing this year despite trade uncertainties,” Limlingan added.

Net value turnover, however, surged to P11.02 billion from the previous day’s P4.46 billion.

All sectors settled in the red, except for industrial, which inched up by 0.13 percent.

Property and holding firms were the biggest losers, plunging by 1.39 percent and 1.38 percent, respectively.