Share prices ended mixed Tuesday as investors digested local and international news.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was up 23.30 points to 6,881.20, a 0.34 percent hike.
The broader all shares index was down 1.34 points to 4,264.99, a 0.03 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 116 to 64 with 51 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P7.08 billion.
The peso closed at 50.14 to the dollar, up from P50.24 on Monday.
The currency opened at 50.17 and hit a high of 50.08 and a low of 50.21. Trading turnover reached $988.7 million.
Most regional currencies inched higher against the US dollar, recouping some recent losses, while investors remained focused on Evergrande as well as the Federal Reserve’s stimulus tapering, Reuters reported.
Fears that the crisis could damage an already fragile Chinese economy and spill over into broader financial markets also sent Wall Street sharply lower on Monday.
“The Evergrande situation has congealed with ongoing global growth concerns to finally generate genuine risk-off market conditions,” Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets said, but noted it was unlikely the developer’s debt troubles would spark a full-blown meltdown in Asian markets.
“Evergrande is a symptom of a deteriorating property market in China, and the negative repercussions of that on Chinese growth and demand… Until we get clear indications of state-led containment measures from Beijing, however, market sentiment will remain poor.”
Mike Ricafort, economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the peso edged up “amid the increased arrivals of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines at the record pace in recent days so far. This is hoped to further increase vaccines administered, especially in Metro Manila, and could help better control/manage new COVID-19 local cases, which already eased to below 20,000 recently, he said.
Japhet Tantiangco, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said late- day buying sent the local market higher.
“Intraday, the local bourse fell to as low as 6,779.19 due to the negative spillovers from worries over China’s property market, in particular, the China Evergrande Group. Investors took advantage of the market’s preceding 2-day decline which extended to early Tuesday, leading to the positive close,” he said.
Most actively traded PLDT Inc. was up P90 to P1,600. Globe Telecom inc. was down P72 to P2,900. Monde Nissin Corp. was down P0.26 to P18.94. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P1.50 to P110.50. Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. was up P3.55 to P54.20. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down P0.40 to P190.50. Converge Information and Communication Technology Solutions Inc. was up P0.55 to P35. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.15 to P33.10. LT Group Inc. was up P0.48 to P10. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.40 to P33.
