Stocks continue to decline on US tariff concerns

Philippine stocks dropped for a fourth straight session on Wednesday as negative sentiment on Wall Street amid tariff jitters spilled over to the local market.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went down by 0.35% or 22.76 points to close at 6,330.10, while the all shares index declined by 0.28% or 10.12 points to finish at 3,596.69.

“The local bourse extended its decline amid weakening global markets, driven by Trump’s tariff imposition, which kept investors on their toes to further assess their next move,” AP Securities, Inc. said in a market note.

“The local market dropped again amid the negative cues from Wall Street caused by worries over the US’ tariff threats against selected European countries as it tries to get Greenland,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Manager Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message.

Lingering global uncertainty fueled cautiousness that caused stocks to end lower, but the peso’s rebound against the dollar helped cap the slide, Luis A. Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a Viber message.

The peso jumped by 19.4 centavos to close at PHP 59.261 per dollar on Wednesday as the greenback was also hit by trade war concerns.

All three major Wall Street indexes ended Tuesday with their biggest one-day drops in three months, in a broad sell-off triggered by concerns that fresh tariff threats from President Donald J. Trump against Europe could signal renewed market volatility, Reuters reported.

The S&P 500 lost 143.15 points or 2.06% to end at 6,796.86 points; while the Nasdaq Composite gave up 561.07 points or 2.39% to 22,954.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 870.74 points or 1.76% to 48,488.59.

The reinjection of tariff threats into global markets harkens back to April’s “Liberation Day,” when Mr. Trump’s levies on global trade partners pushed the S&P 500 to near bear market territory.

Sectoral indices were mixed on Wednesday. Services dropped by 0.63% or 16.40 points to 2,552.29; industrials retreated by 0.58% or 52.62 points to 8,999.21; and financials decreased by 0.47% or 10.18 points to 2,116.35.

Meanwhile, mining and oil jumped by 4.64% or 800.84 points to 18,055.78; property rose by 0.2% or 4.60 points to 2,301.02; and holding firms climbed by 0.14% or 7.17 points to 5,035.85.

“Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. was the day’s top index gainer, climbing 3.11% to P31.50. DigiPlus Interactive Corp. was the main index laggard, falling 5.96% to P14.20,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Decliners beat advancers, 108 to 85, while 66 names closed unchanged.

Value turnover went down to PHP 6.87 billion on Wednesday with 1.21 billion shares traded from the PHP 7.13 billion with 1.22 billion issues that changed hands on Tuesday.

Net foreign buying decreased to PHP 252.82 million from PHP 303.41 million. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno with Reuters