US-China trade war fears drag down stocks

MANILA, Philippines — With nothing to entice investors to go back to the market, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) retreated anew yesterday.

Aside from that, the PSEi also returned to below the 8,000 mark, closing at 7,945.66, down 76.50 points or 0.95 percent while the broader All Shares gauge shed 35.95 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 4,828.50.

Meanwhile, the sectoral indexes were no better, also closing mostly in the red including the property, financials, industrial and holding firms. Only the mining, oil and services indexes managed to stay afloat.

Total value turnover reached P7.58 billion and market breadth was negative, 130 to 80 while 40 issues were left unchanged.

Traders said a new wave of threat from President Donald Trump reignited trade war jitters, sending investors away from the market.

On Thursday evening, Trump said he was considering another wave of steep tariffs on China’s exports to the US.

“In light of China’s unfair retaliation, I have instructed the (United States Trade Representative) to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate,” the US president said in a statement released by the White House.

It earlier announced new tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, on which China said it would also slap $50 billion worth of tariffs on US goods.

Beijing said it was only fair to retaliate.

The US has already slapped tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, which also prompted retaliatory measures from China.