EMERGING MARKETS-Philippine stocks slide as lockdown fears loom

  • 12/28/2020
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* Taiwan dollar, S. Korean won outperform among Asia FX * Philippine shares drop for 2nd straight session * Thai shares notch up three-day winning streak By Pranav A K Dec 28 (Reuters) - Philippine shares fell to their lowest in nearly three weeks on Monday after President Rodrigo Duterte warned over the weekend that the country could be back in lockdown to guard against the spread of a new coronavirus variant. Manila"s benchmark index ended 1.1% lower, extending losses to a second straight session and underperforming other emerging Asian markets that advanced in thin trading after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a pandemic aid bill. The Philippines, which has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases and casualties in Southeast Asia, has extended an existing ban on flights from Britain to mid-January and is considering other travel restrictions. "For the PSEi, markets are seemingly responding to talks over the Christmas holiday weekend about the new variant of COVID-19 and its implications if the said variant is thus found in the country," said Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines. Sentiment across the region, however, remained upbeat after President Trump"s go-ahead on a $2.3 trillion stimulus bill, which averted a federal government shutdown and paved the way for millions of Americans to get economic relief. Thai shares carved out a three-day winning streak, while stocks in Indonesia were on course to settle 1.2% higher after two sessions in the red. Analysts at Phillip Securities said end-of-year portfolio window dressing could help Bangkok"s benchmark bourse gain between 0.5% and 1% over the remainder of the year. Regional stocks and currencies have rebounded from their March lows in recent months, as the promise of vaccines spurred bets that the global economy will rebound in 2021 from the pandemic-induced hammering this year. Still, the new virus variant has in recent days cast some doubt over whether vaccines developed so far will be effective against it and how its spread will affect a recovery. Malaysian stocks and the ringgit remained elevated after data showed that the country"s exports rose for the third straight month in November and came in ahead of analysts" expectations. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are down 5.2 basis points at 6.045% ** Top gainers on the Jakarta stock index include Radana Bhaskara Finance Tbk PT up 33.94% and Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk PT up 24.53% ** In the Philippines, top index losers are Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co down 2.76% and DMCI Holdings Inc down 2.71% Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0729 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX YTD INDE STOCK STOC DAILY % X S KS % DAILY YTD % % Japan +0.01 +4.97 <.N2 0.74 13.5 25> 2 China EC> 8 India -0.05 -2.99 <.NS 0.78 13.8 EI> 8 Indonesia +0.00 -1.91 <.JK 1.22 -3.4 SE> 5 Malaysia +0.35 +1.09 <.KL 0.30 3.61 SE> Philippines +0.02 +5.45 <.PS -1.14 -8.8 I> 7 S.Korea 11> 0 Singapore +0.00 +1.26 <.ST 0.06 -11. I> 76 Taiwan +1.55 +7.12 <.TW 1.06 20.7 II> 2 Thailand -0.27 -0.70 <.SE 0.52 -5.4 TI> 4 (Reporting by A K Pranav in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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