PSEi slips anew, tracks Wall Street decline

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock market retreated for a fourth consecutive session, tracking the decline in Wall Street.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index slipped by 0.06 percent or 3.4 points to close yesterday’s session at 5,893.40.

The broader All Shares index also dipped by 0.23 percent or 7.67 points, settling at 3,339.88.

“The local market’s sideways movement ended in the negative territory, taking cues from Wall Street’s overnight decline. This comes following the rise in the US long term treasury yields,” Philstocks Financial research manager Japhet Tantiangco said.

Tantiangco said lingering concerns including the elevated global oil prices, weak local currency and stagflation risks also weighed on investor sentiment.

Sectoral gauges were a mixed bag, with services recording the highest jump at 0.33 percent, while industrial lost the most at 0.79 percent.

Trading remained tepid as total turnover value stood at P5.67 billion, a slight improvement form the previous day’s P5.36 billion.

Market breadth was negative as decliners overpowered advancers, 111 to 74, while 59 issues were unchanged.

ICTSI was the top traded stock, rising by 0.69 percent to P800 per share, followed by BPI and MREIT, which dropped by 1.64 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively, to P87.10 and P13.96.

Asian markets extended their losses yesterday as surging bond yields and stubborn inflation concerns knocked investor confidence already shaken by US President Donald Trump’s renewed threats to strike Iran.

Regional equities tracked losses in Wall Street, where the S&P 500 and the tech-rich Nasdaq posted a third straight day of declines, with the yield on the 30-year US Treasury climbing to levels last seen in 2007. –  AFP