Philippine stocks drop as Trump announces auto tariffs

Philippine shares declined anew on Thursday due to negative spillovers from Wall Street after US President Donald J. Trump announced a fresh round of tariffs.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped by 0.43% or 26.54 points to end at 6,139.51, while the broader all shares index went down by 0.39% or 14.35 points to close at 3,662.36.

“The local market resumed its decline after a one-day rebound amid the negative spillovers from Wall Street driven by US President Donald Trump’s recently announced auto tariffs,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message.

“Philippine shares fell once again as tariff concerns weighed on sentiment,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan likewise said in a Viber message.

Overnight, the S&P 500 declined by 1.12% to end at 5,712.20 points; the Nasdaq went down by 2.04% to 17,899.02 points; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.31% to 42,454.79 points.

Asian auto stocks led markets lower on Thursday after Mr. Trump unveiled a 25% tariff on imported vehicles, expanding a global trade war and prompting criticism and threats of retaliation from affected US allies, Reuters reported.

The new levies on cars and light trucks will take effect on April 3, the day after Mr. Trump plans to announce reciprocal tariffs aimed at the countries responsible for the bulk of the US trade deficit. They come on top of duties already introduced on steel and aluminum, and on goods from Mexico, Canada and China.

Mr. Trump sees tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised tax cuts and to revive a long-declining US industrial base.

Many trade experts, however, expect prices to initially rise and demand to fall, hurting a global auto industry that is already reeling from uncertainty caused by Mr. Trump’s rapid-fire tariff threats and occasional reversals.

Sectoral indices closed mixed on Thursday. Industrials declined by 1.27% or 111.45 points to 8,641.25; services went down by 1.10% or 22.52 points to 2,009.51; and holding firms retreated by 0.28% or 14.43 points to 5,017.28.

Meanwhile, mining and oil rose by 0.80% or 74.99 points to 9,366.42; property went up by 0.13% or 2.81 points to 2,165.36; and financials inched up by 0.05% or 1.39 points to 2,398.81.

“JG Summit Holdings, Inc. was the top index gainer, climbing 2.33% to PHP 16.68. Bloomberry Resorts Corp. was the worst index performer, plunging 5.21% to PHP 2.91,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Value turnover went down to PHP 4.5 billion on Thursday with 828.47 million shares traded from the PHP 4.91 billion with 1.06 billion issues exchanged on Wednesday.

Decliners outnumbered advancers, 127 versus 63, while 48 names were unchanged.

Net foreign selling went down to P187.81 million in Thursday from PHP 1 billion on Wednesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave with Reuters