LOCAL EQUITIES managed to rebound at the last minute on Friday after two straight days of decline amid thin trades, with no compelling local leads to draw investor attention from concerns abroad ahead of a long weekend.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 40.58 points or 0.51% to finish at 7,889.41, while the broader all-shares index climbed by 13.23 points or 0.27% to end at 4,770.38.

Four of the six sectoral indices managed to end with gains, but foreign investors remained predominantly bearish for the fourth straight trading day.

“With the latest US manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) contracting, European Central Bank (ECB) minutes, the (Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome) Powell watch and the meeting of Presidents (Rodrigo R.) Duterte and Xi (Jinping) driving market sentiment, investors chose to stay at bay for now, buying selectively at close heading into the long weekend,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message.

IHS Markit earlier reported US manufacturing PMI slumped to 49.9 in August — indicating contraction as it fell below the 50 mark that denotes no change from the preceding month — from 50.4 in July, the first time it contracted since September 2009, as it took a hit from the trade war with China.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was also scheduled to speak at the US central bank’s Jaskson Hole symposium on Friday. “Trading was thin once again, with many awaiting Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole meeting,” Mr. Limlingan said.

The meeting of Messrs. Duterte and Xi next week is also among the events investors are on the lookout for.

Wall Street indices were mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaininh 0.19% or 49.51 points to 26,252.24, the S&P 500 index falling 0.05% or 1.48 points to 2,922.95 and the Nasdaq Composite index sliding 0.36% or 28.82 points to 7,991.39.

Major Asian markets were largely in the green on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix indices gaining 0.4% and 0.28%, respectively; the Shanghai SE Composite increasing by 0.49%; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising by 0.5% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex climbing by 0.63%; while South Korea’s KOSPI index fell by 0.14%.

Back home, most sectoral indices rallied: holding firms increased by 58.89 points or 0.76% to 7,772.54, financials climbed by 13.32 points or 0.73% to 1,827.12, services gained by 10.77 points or 0.68% to 1,589.89, while industrials added 22.2 points or 0.2% to end 10,997.

Closing at the red territory were mining and oil, which dropped 196.93 points or 2.38% to 8,074, and property which gave up 18 points or 0.44% to finish 4,016.69.

Friday saw 1.075 billion shares worth P8.16 billion change hands, compared to Thursday’s 2.101 billion shares worth P9.92 billion.

Stocks that declined outnumbered those that advanced 109-93, while 48 others ended flat.

Investors abroad remained predominantly bearish for the fourth straight trading day, with net foreign selling increasing by a fourth to P539.134 million from Thursday’s P435.012 million. — D. A. Valdez

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