Stocks down on renewed trade worries

Stocks fell for the sixth consecutive session on Wednesday, May 23, amid renewed geopolitical woes due to United States President Donald J. Trump’s comments on their trade talks with China.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index— considered the local barometer for investor sentiment— gave up 1.12% or 85.73 points to close at 7,560.47. The broader all-shares index likewise edged lower by 0.87% or 40.46 points to 4,612.
“Investors are still in risk-off mode particularly foreign funds who have been steadily liquidating since February. To date, net foreign selling has amounted to Php47.8B for the year, almost reversing the net buy of Php55B for the entire 2017,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said in a text message.
Net foreign outflows for the day reached P649.85 million, higher than the previous session’s P628.52 million. This is the sixth day of net foreign selling for the market.
“On the whole, foreign investors seem to be cashing in and adopting a risk-averse stance amid renewed concerns on trade between the US and China,” Mr. Lisbona said.
Mr. Trump said that the US government did not arrive at a deal with China for its trade dispute, despite top US officials saying earlier that they have agreed on a framework and have put the trade war on hold.
ChinaBank Securities Corp. Research Director Garie G. Ouano meanwhile attributed the PSEi’s decline to technicalities.
“Probably due to technical factors since there were no major market-moving developments today and the index has so far formed a trading range around 7800-7500,” Mr. Ouano said in a separate message.
All sectoral indices moved to negative territory, led by a 1.76% drop or 132.17 points to 7,381.05. Financials shed 1.52% or 28.65 points to 1,851.86, while services slipped 0.6% or 9.1 points to 1,514.29. Industrial went down 0.38% or 41.96 points to 10,905.02; mining and oil lost 0.28% or 28.27 points to 9,958.01; while property declined 0.08% or 3 points to 3,801.78.
A total of 1.86 billion issues switched hands, resulting to a turnover of P5.88 billion.
Decliners outpaced advancers, 116 to 66, while 55 issues remained unchanged. — Arra B. Francia