MANILA, 23 June — The death of the most prominent member of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in the hands of the Philippine military Friday failed to lift up stock market trading so that the market index dropped 4 percent to a new five month low.
Killed in an encounter with the military was Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya. This indicated a possible improvement in the country’s tourism since his group has been known to prey on tourists and other foreigners in the Southern Philippines but the incident did not merit an increase in stock market activity.
The market remained down and the main market barometer shed over 50 points to close at 1,214.15 points. Market turnovers, however, were positive and value turnover increased 28.73 percent to P2.13 billion ($42.6 million) while volume turnover rose 34.2 percent to 1.28 billion shares.
Analysts from online trading firm 2TradeAsia.com said “players seemed unconvinced of positive long-term stories that can sustain an ascent.” The market’s poor performance “made some players skeptical if recovery would soon take shape, and benefit economies in Asia in the process,” noted 2TradeAsia.com analysts.
Another possible reason why the death of Abu Sabaya failed to elicit interest in the market is that local shares were affected by weaknesses in US and Asian markets.
“The entire region is very sluggish. If you look at our market, since the start of the year, we were leading in the region, now we are in a deep correction phase,” said Regina Capital Development Corp. Vice President Allan Araullo.
The Philippine market had actually shown it was being affected by the weakness in the US market since the beginning of the trading week. Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities said this was because of US economic data released last week showing sharply lower retail sales and consumer confidence in May. “I think the market right now is reacting more to the weakening confidence in the US,” Vistan said.
Efren Cruz, of Mutual Fund Management Co. of the Philippines, said “there was a rumor that a United States based fund was liquidating its Philippine holdings to meet redemptions and it may have spooked local investors into following suit.”
Market stays down, value turnover up in Philippines
By Julie Javellana Santos, Special to Arab News
MANILA, 23 June — The death of the most prominent member of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in the hands of the Philippine military Friday failed to lift up stock market trading so that the market index dropped 4 percent to a new five month low.
Killed in an encounter with the military was Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya. This indicated a possible improvement in the country’s tourism since his group has been known to prey on tourists and other foreigners in the Southern Philippines but the incident did not merit an increase in stock market activity.
The market remained down and the main market barometer shed over 50 points to close at 1,214.15 points. Market turnovers, however, were positive and value turnover increased 28.73 percent to P2.13 billion ($42.6 million) while volume turnover rose 34.2 percent to 1.28 billion shares.
Analysts from online trading firm 2TradeAsia.com said “players seemed unconvinced of positive long-term stories that can sustain an ascent.” The market’s poor performance “made some players skeptical if recovery would soon take shape, and benefit economies in Asia in the process,” noted 2TradeAsia.com analysts.
Another possible reason why the death of Abu Sabaya failed to elicit interest in the market is that local shares were affected by weaknesses in US and Asian markets.
“The entire region is very sluggish. If you look at our market, since the start of the year, we were leading in the region, now we are in a deep correction phase,” said Regina Capital Development Corp. Vice President Allan Araullo.
The Philippine market had actually shown it was being affected by the weakness in the US market since the beginning of the trading week. Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities said this was because of US economic data released last week showing sharply lower retail sales and consumer confidence in May. “I think the market right now is reacting more to the weakening confidence in the US,” Vistan said.
Efren Cruz, of Mutual Fund Management Co. of the Philippines, said “there was a rumor that a United States based fund was liquidating its Philippine holdings to meet redemptions and it may have spooked local investors into following suit.”
