Market's upward momentum stalls
The stock market fell back to the 7,400 territory on Wednesday, Oct. 9, as investors resorted to profit-taking prior to the release of the US consumer price index (CPI).
The bellwether index dropped by 1.50 percent or 112.73 points to close at 7,424.52 while the wider All Shares declined by 1.08 percent or 44.05 points to end at 4,033.36.
“Philippine shares succumbed to profit taking after briefing touching the 7600 level at overbought territory as investors gear up for the US CPI,” said Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp.
“The market had rallied last week following a strong jobs report, with the Dow reaching a record high. However, investor enthusiasm waned as expectations grew that the Federal Reserve may slow future rate cuts due to a robust labor market,” he added.
On Friday, the US government reported a 4.1-percent decline in unemployment rate, with employers adding 254,000 jobs, higher than the previous 12 months’ average monthly gain of 203,000 and the 159,000 jobs booked in August.
The local market bucked its US counterpart, with the Dow Jones up by 0.30 percent; Nasdaq up 1.45 percent; and S&P 500 up by 0.97 percent.
Locally, all sectoral indices were in the red, led by holding firms (-1.77 percent), mining and oil (-1.71 percent), and financials (-1.68 percent).
Volume turnover was at 917 million valued at P5.3 billion.
Losers beat winners, 122 to 72, while 64 issues remained unchanged.