PH stocks retreat as investors weigh Biden’s Israel visit

Philippine stocks finished lower Wednesday as investors took time to analyze the latest movement in US bond yields and corporate earnings.

The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 12.63 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 6,268.27, while the broader all-shares index retreated 5.98 points, or 0.18 percent, to settle at 3,385.40.

The two-year US yields hit the highest levels in more than 16 years, while those on 10-year notes jumped 13 basis points to 4.83 percent.

Regina Capital and Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said investors were also monitoring the impact of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on the Middle East conflict.

Meanwhile, Asian markets mostly fell and oil prices rallied Wednesday on fears that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spill over into a regional war after a blast at a Gaza hospital dealt a blow to President Joe Biden’s diplomatic drive.

Markets had enjoyed a healthy run Tuesday on optimism that while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing for a ground offensive in the blockaded territory, the crisis could be contained.

Gaza’s health ministry blamed Israel for the hospital explosion, but Israel said it was caused by a rocket misfired by Hamas ally Islamic Jihad.

Biden had planned to visit Israel and Jordan on Wednesday to talk to Netanyahu as well as Jordanian King Abdullah II, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in hopes of finding a way to de-escalate.

But news that at least 200 people had been killed at the hospital saw the Arab leaders cancel their summit in Amman and fanned concerns of a regional conflagration, with Iran warning this week that a wider war was becoming “inevitable.”

There was an increase in fighting between Israeli troops and Tehran-backed Hezbollah on the Lebanon border.

“The whole region is at the brink of falling into the abyss that this new cycle of death and destruction is pushing us towards,” King Abdullah II said following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Tuesday.

“The threat of this war expanding is real.”

Asian markets mostly fell, with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai, Jakarta, Taipei and Manila