Investors sell off stocks as trade battle heats up

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices plunged yesterday, a day after the mid-term Philippine elections which saw the victory of President Duterte’s allies at the Senate.

Traders, however, were quick to point out that while it is easy to blame the results of the election for yesterday’s bloodbath, it had more to do with the US-China trade war after China retaliated with its own plan to raise tariffs on US goods by June.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index nosedived by 95.54 points, or 1.23 percent, to finish at 7,646.66.

Likewise the broader All Shares gauge shed 54.72 points or  1.14 percent to end at 4,736.54.

Among the sectors, the financials gauge took the worst beating, slipping by 3.05 percent. Likewise, the holding firms also took a beating with a decline of 2.31 percent.

Only the mining and oil and property finished in the green territory with mining and oil the biggest gainer with a 1.18 percent uptick

Total value turnover reached P11.9 billion. Market breadth was negative, 140 to 57 while 37 issues were unchanged.

“Elections results have no near term impact in my view. Multiple polls had foreshadowed the results of the elections and the more pressing concerns for the market are the US-China trade war which has re-escalated and the MSCI’s downweight for the Philippines,” said Nicky Franco, head of research for Abacus Securities Corp.