THE MAIN INDEX was flat yesterday as investors waited on the sidelines for fresh developments in the US-China trade talks.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) inched up 2.96 points or 0.03% to close at 8,012.34 on Tuesday, as the broader all shares index shed 0.66 points or 0.01% to 4,788.62.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said the quiet trading was due to investors’ “wait-and-see stance ahead of this week’s events.”

He said in a mobile message investors are looking at the results of the US House Intelligence Committee’s first public impeachment hearings and US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony to the Congress on Wednesday.

Research Associate Piper Chaucer E. Tan of Philstocks Financial, Inc. gave the same reason when asked for comment on the stock market’s performance.

“This is hinting that investors are still awaiting for more earnings, but so far we think that earnings are still in line with our expectation…,” he said in a text message. “Offshore risks are shrugging off also by the likes of Hong Kong unrest and US China trade spat,” he added.

Wall Street was mixed at the end of Monday’s trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average creeped up 0.04% as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indices fell 0.20% and 0.13%, respectively.

Meanwhile, markets in the Asia Pacific were mostly positive. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix indices rose 0.81% and 0.33%, respectively, as China’s Shanghai SE Composite index added 0.17%, South Korea’s KOSPI index improved up 0.79% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index went up 0.52%.

Over at the PSE, two sectoral indices advanced, led by property which rose 20.16 points or 0.48% to 4,143.47. The other was services, which climbed 4.12 points or 0.26% to 1,553.68.

The rest of the indices fell. Financials dropped 5.59 points or 0.29% to 1,923.37; industrials went down 23.40 points or 0.22% to 10,410.90; holding firms gave up 7.43 points or 0.09% to 7,897.27; and mining and oil declined 2.79 points or 0.03% to 8,870.17.

More stocks declined than advanced on Tuesday, 100 against 76, as 57 others ended flat.

Tuesday ended with a trading volume of 489.23 million worth P4.73 billion, lower than the P5.39 billion seen on Monday.

Foreign investors continued to flee the market, with net selling logged at P392.04 million, lower than P419.98 million the day prior.

Meanwhile, Singapore led gains in Southeast Asia ahead of retail sales data due later in the day.

Singapore shares advanced 0.3%, after losing about 1.4% in the past two sessions on weakness in industrial stocks.

However, most other Southeast Asian stock markets were little changed in thin trade ahead of a speech by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday that could provide clues on the status of an interim trade deal with China. — Denise A. Valdez with Reuters

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