Philippine Market Recap Aug 20, 2018

Market Recap

Philippine share prices dropped as investors awaited developments on proposed Sino-US trade talks, while keeping a wary eye on the Chinese yuan and Turkish lira for any new signs of strain.

The bellwether PSEi fell 82.99 points or 1.09% to 7,500.53 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares declined by 36.56 points or 0.79% to 4,570.13.

The local bourse bucked the uptrend among most of its Asian peers amid hopes that China and the United States will resolve their trade dispute.

Wall Street ended last week with gains following a report that top officials from the world’s top two economies will hold talks to resolve a crisis that has seen them hit each other with tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods with more in the pipeline.

The talks were aimed at easing the trade dispute before Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a summit in November.

The talks in Washington would take place on Aug. 21 and 22, just before $16-bil in new US tariffs on Chinese goods take effect.

The US Trade Representative's office said on Friday it doubled the length of tariff hearings on the next $200-bil worth of Chinese goods to six days from the previously planned three due to overwhelming demand from companies to testify.

The hearings will be held Aug. 20-24 and on Aug. 27.

Sentiment toward Turkey has stabilized, but medium-term vulnerabilities remain substantial and markets continue to penalize currencies with weak fundamentals.

More than 1.471-bil shares valued at P5.399-bil, changed hands. Market breadth was negative, with decliners edging out advancers, 115 to 85, and 40 issues were unchanged.

Gainers: LTG (+1.14%), FGEN (+0.78%), GLO (+0.76%), BPI (+0.67%), JFC (+0.66%)
Laggards: AC (-4.40%), JGS (-4.11%), MER (-3.53%), DMC (-3.51%), SCC (-2.83%)