Trade concerns continue to weigh down local markets

PSEi recovered and went up 0.95 percent, or 70.22 points, to 7,447.02 points. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA — Trade tensions overseas weighed down both the local bourse and the peso on Monday, with US President Donald Trump’s threat to slap Chinese products additional tariff on top of the USD200 billion announced earlier, fuelling investors’ worries.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.03 percent, or 2.49 points, to 7,596.15 points.

Landbank market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan said worries on the rise of domestic inflation rate, which rose to 6.4 percent last August from month-ago’s 5.7 percent, also contributed to the risk-off sentiment, because of its possible impact on domestic growth.

He said bargain hunting for some stocks was seen in the afternoon but investors remain cautious also because of news that President Rodrigo R. Duterte is scheduled to address the nation on Tuesday.

With concerns still up, some of the other indices tracked the main gauge.

The broader All Shares ended the day down by 0.34 percent, or 15.71 points, to 4,640.71 points.

Half of the sectors also finished with losses and these are the Financials, 0.62 percent; Services, 0.53 percent; and Property, 0.25 percent.

On the other hand, Mining and Oil rose by 0.69 percent; Industrial, 0.67 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.22 percent.

Volume reached 1.44 billion shares amounting to PHP7.4 billion.

Losers led gainers at 124 to 62 while 55 shares were unchanged.

Also, the peso finished the day at 53.88, down from 53.73 Friday last week.

Dumalagan attributed the local currency’s weakness to “better-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls report last Friday evening.

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The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment rose by 201,000 last August, surpassing expectations. “The upbeat jobs data solidified views of another rate hike this month from the US Federal Reserve, “ Dumalagan said, referring to the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on September 25-26.

For the day, the peso opened at 53.79, a tad better than the 53.85 in the previous session.

It moved between 53.77 and 53.92, resulting to an average of 53.854.

Volume reached USD434.9 million, way lower than the USD956.9 million.

Dumalagan expects the currency pair to trade between 53.70 and 54.00 Tuesday. “While a strong downward correction for the dollar is unlikely, there could be some bias against the dollar tomorrow, as investors might take profit amid market uncertainties,” he said.

“The possible rebound in Philippine exports may also provide some boost to the peso,” he added. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is scheduled to report the July 2018 merchandise trade figures on Tuesday, September 11, 2018.