PHL shares fall sharply on US market drop, weak Chinese factory output

Shares prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange fell sharply Thursday as investors took cues from the US market which fell on a possible cut of the Federal Reserve's bond buying program and weak Chinese manufacturing output.

 

"Prospective rises were limited by overseas news, particularly the US market which declined on FED worries," Freya Natividad, analyst at 2TradeAsia.com, told GMA News Online.

 

"Others took direction from China. Its manufacturing data declined to 49.6 percent in May from 50.4 percent in April," she said.

 

The PSEi shed 70.96 points or 0.96 percent to 7,314.38 at the close. The broader all-shares index declined by 48.78 points or 1.08 percent to 4,485.42. All sub-indices were in the red negative territory led by mining and oil, and financials.

 

Volume reached 2.02 billion valued at P12.14 billion. Decliners outweighed advancers 148 to 33 while 34 stocks were unchanged.

 

According to Reuters, US stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 posting its biggest decline in three weeks, after minutes from the latest US Federal Reserve meeting showed some officials were open to tapering large-scale asset purchases as early as at the June meeting.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 80.41 points, or 0.52 percent, at 15,307.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 13.81 points, or 0.83 percent, at 1,655.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 38.82 points, or 1.11 percent, at 3,463.30.

 

Meanwhile, the flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for May fell to 49.6, slipping under the 50-point level demarcating expansion from contraction for the first since October and sending Asian financial markets sharply lower, Reuters said.

 

"Investors will now weigh the recent correction, if it's going to be an accumulation time or a retest of the market above the 7,300 level," Natividad said. — VS, GMA News