Stocks barely budge on final Clinton, Trump face-off

PHILIPPINE shares ended flat yesterday after investors took profit from the previous days’ gains with the final US presidential debate weighing on sentiment.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed 0.11% or 8.25 points lower to close at 7,713.32. The broader all- shares index, meanwhile, added .05% or 2.41 points to close at 4,536.90.

Five blue chip players dropped yesterday, with Ayala Corp. falling steepest among them with 1.27% of losses. PLDT lost 0.60%.

Investors stayed on the sidelines while scrutinizing results of the US presidential debate, Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said, pointing to the value turnover which contracted to P6.94 billion after 2.06 billion shares changed hands from P12.16 billion on Wednesday.

“Investors appear to be pricing in a Clinton victory. While both candidates seem to have equally done well in the final debate, the market likes Clinton’s widening lead over Trump in the surveys,” he said in a phone interview.

A win for Democrat Hillary Clinton next month — now predicted clearly by polls — is also seen as opening the way for a rise in interest rates which a number of US Federal Reserve policy makers have all but promised for December.

Victor F. Felix, analyst at AB Capital Securities, Inc., said the market moved at a risk-off mode in the morning, watching the last leg of the presidential debate.

Moreover, he attributed the flat performance of the market to profit taking, which he considered as a “positive sign” after a bout of net foreign selling.

“I think it’s just a bit of profit taking wherein the market cooled off a bit because we significantly made jumps in the past two days. The profit taking was mainly done by local firms because we have net foreign buying of 480 million,” he said in a phone interview.

“That to me is a bit of a positive sign. It suggests that foreign investors are coming back into the market.”

Reuters reported that crude oil futures boosted prices to a 15-month high on Wednesday after the US government reported a surprisingly large drop in inventories for six weeks out of seven.

“After experiencing one of the biggest climbs ever in the last two days (+4.9%), the PSEi remained flat as other emerging- market stocks caught up as a rally in crude oil underpinned demand for higher-yielding assets,” said Mr. Limlingan.

MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%. Japan’s Nikkei extended gains to 1.1% as the yen weakened.

Holding firms were down 0.51% or 39.82 points to close at 7,761.29. Mining and oil stocks lost 0.13% or 15.89 points to close at 11,516.04.

Financials climbed 0.38% or 7.17 points to close at 1,852.09; industrial stocks moved up by 0.27% or 32.27 points to 11,877.42; services added 0.12% or 1.87 points to 1,475.69, while property saw a 0.22% rise or 7.71 points to end yesterday’s session at 3,434.92.

Five stocks gained for every four that fell, while 47 remained flat. —