PSEi slides anew on Aug factory activity
Credit to Author: TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 17:38:54 +0000
The stock market again fell on Tuesday on news that growth in the country’s manufacturing sector slowed last month on the back of a decline in fresh orders.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 1.44 percent or 113.82 points to finish at 7,804.71, while the wider All Shares dropped by 1.19 percent or 56.98 points to end at 4,740.61.
“The local bourse shed 113.82 points…on the back of the slowdown in the Philippines’ August manufacturing PMI [purchasing managers’ index],” Philstocks Financial Inc. said in a market comment.
IHS Markit reported on Monday that the country’s seasonally adjusted manufacturing PMI decelerated to 51.9 in August from 52.1 a month earlier, attributing it to weakening growth in new orders.
The PMI is a composite index that represents the weighted average of new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery time and stocks. Readings above 50 signal an expansion; below that, a contraction.
For its part, brokerage firm 2TradeAsia said SM Investment Corp. (SMIC), SM Prime Holdings and Ayala Corp. contributed to the bourse’s drop.
SMIC shares dipped by P25 or 2.45 percent to end at P994 each, while those of SM Prime dropped by 90 centavos or 2.57 percent to close at P34.10 apiece. Ayala shares shed P21 or 2.28 percent to finish at P900 each.
“Resistance for the index remains at the psychological 8,000 mark, especially with the sell-down today,” Papa Securities sales associate Gabriel Jose Perez said.
He pegged the support level at around the 7,620 mark.
The bourse’s decline mirrored the Nasdaq, which dropped by 0.13 percent. In contrast, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 rose by 0.16 percent and 0.06 percent, respectively.
Asian markets were mixed. Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore climbed by 0.02 percent, 0.21 percent and 0.05 percent, respectively. Meanwhile,
Hong Kong and Thailand slid by 0.34 percent, Seoul fell by 0.18 percent and Jakarta dipped by 0.11 percent.
In Manila, mining and oil again bucked the downtrend, rising by 2.49 percent.
Volume turnover stood at 1.19 billion shares amounting to P6.83 billion.
Losers led winners, 125-67, while 56 issues were unchanged.