Local stocks rise to end three-day slump

By Jenniffer B. Austria

THE local stock market inched higher Tuesday to end a three-day slump following overnight gains on Wall Street.

The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 2.33 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 6,593.80, while the broader all-shares index was flat at 3,515.95.

Philstocks Financial Inc. research analyst Claire Alviar said the benchmark index started the month of August with modest gains, fueled by positive cues in the US markets and anticipation of slower inflation rate.

“The market gain was trimmed at the

PSEi

August 1, 2023

Top Gainers

last minute, given the weak market participation, with a net market value turnover reaching P3.77 billion,” Alviar said.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed Tuesday as investors struggled to maintain early gains fanned by hopes the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike campaign has run its course.

Positive data out of Washington in recent weeks, particularly falling inflation, has been compounded by China’s recent promises of stimulus measures to kick start growth, as the country’s postCovid recovery grinds to a halt.

Traders are now keeping a close eye on earnings this week from tech titans Apple and Amazon, and US jobs at the end of the week that could provide an idea about the Fed’s thinking.

Britain’s central bank is also due to announce a rate decision.

On Monday, Chicago Fed boss Austan Goolsbee left open the possibility of pausing or stopping interest rate hikes at the bank’s next policy meeting in September.

“Thus far we’re on the golden path and we’ve got to walk that line,” Goolsbee told Yahoo! Finance, referring to the path of lowering inflation without triggering a major recession.

He said the slowdown in inflation was “fabulous news”, echoing comments from Minneapolis chief Neel Kashkari, who called the readings “quite positive.”

“As we approach the middle of summer, there is a prevailing belief among people on the street that the Federal Reserve has probably made its final rate hike in the current cycle,” said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.

“This is due to the evident decrease in inflation pressures. The current economic conditions, including decreasing inflation, a pause in Federal Reserve tightening, and steady or increasing growth, could create an ideal situation

Top Losers

Most Active

TOKYO, Japan - Toyota reported on Tuesday a quarterly net profit of $9.1 billion as global production rebounded after major supply disruptions a year ago, but warned of “severe” competition in China.

The Japanese giant, the world’s biggest automaker by sales, said net profit in the three months to June surged 78 percent year-on-year to 1.31 trillion yen ($9.1 billion).

Sales in the firm’s first fiscal quarter were 10.55 trillion yen, up 24.2 percent from a year ago.

Toyota, including its high-end Lexus brand, sold 2.538 million vehicles worldwide, up 8.4 percent from a year ago.

The figures beat market expectations, sending the company’s stocks up almost three percent after the announcement.

Major automakers are enjoying a robust surge of global demand after the Covid-19 pandemic slowed manufacturing activities.

Severe shortages of semiconductors had also limited production capacity for a host of products ranging from cars to smartphones.

Toyota said that chip supplies were improving and that it had raised product prices and worked with suppliers to bring production activities back to normal.

Toyota has said its global production in the first six months of the year reached a record 5.6 million units, while sales reached 5.4 million, reinforcing its position as the world’s biggest carmaker. AFP via the Adriatic Gate Container Terminal to Budapest in Hungary. It connects AGCT with Metrans’ Csepel Terminal in Budapest. The service runs twice per week at a fixed timetable. AGCT, a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. looks to further increase its rail throughput, which represents 47 percent of its total volume. An increase in rail traffic would contribute to a more sustainable supply chain, as moving freight by rail instead of truck reduces carbon emissions by up to 24 kilograms per freight ton.

UAE oil giant pledges to speed up zero-carbon plan

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—

The national oil giant of the United Arab Emirates, host of this year’s UN climate talks, said Monday it had accelerated its emission reduction goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company “is accelerating its decarbonization plan to advance its net-zero ambition to 2045, compared to its previous target of 2050,” ADNOC said in a statement.

It said is intends to “increase its investments and redouble efforts in decarbonization,” relying on an initial financing of $15 billion for “low-carbon solutions” and achieving “zero methane emissions by 2030”.

Environmental groups charge that net-zero pledges from the world’s energy giants are misleading when the companies in fact plan to increase their oil and gas sales, as ADNOC does.

The pledges to cut emissions apply to producing, refining and processing operations -– not to the vastly greater emissions caused when the fuel is burnt to power cars, planes and factories.

The oil giant said it has “reduced its greenhouse gas emissions” by about five million tons in 2022, mostly through the use of solar and nuclear energy, to power all of its onshore operations.

The UAE, one of the world’s leading oil exporters, is set to host the COP28 climate summit in November and December.

Its new plans set this month to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19 percent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels were criticized by ana- lysts as “insufficient”.

Climate Action Tracker, a project run by non-profit climate groups, said that while this marked an improvement on the UAE’s previous plan, its intention to increase fossil fuel production would render it “unachievable”.

ADNOC CEO Sultan Al Jaber, who will head up the UN climate talks, has argued that fossil fuels will to continue to play a key role, and that carbon capture technologies will play contain emissions.

The world remains far off track on the Paris Agreement’s goals to curb global warming to two degrees Celsius, and preferably 1.5C.

Meanwhile, global temperatures have hit record highs this month as people across the planet have been pounded by floods, storms and cropwithering heatwaves. AFP for the stock market.”

All three main indexes on Wall Street ended on a positive note, with the S&P 500 at a 16-month high.

But while Asia started the day on the front foot, some markets lost momentum. Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Taipei and Manila rose but Hong Kong and Shanghai were dragged by profit-taking following a run-up last week.

Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai and Jakarta also fell. London rose in the morning but Frankfurt and Paris dipped. Data out of China showing the country’s factory activity shrank last month reinforced expectations the government will continue to unveil economic support measures. With AFP

First US nuclear reactor in seven years goes online

NEW YORK, United States—A new reactor at a US nuclear power plant entered into operation Monday, a first in seven years in the country where conventional reactors may give way to smaller-scale nuclear facilities.

The Vogtle Unit 3 near Waynesboro, in the southeastern state of Georgia, has begun serving some 500,000 homes and businesses, operator Georgia Power said in a statement.

“The new unit represents a longterm investment in the state’s clean energy future and will provide reliable, emissions-free energy to customers for decades to come,” the company said.

The project comes online seven years after it was supposed to start producing power.

The costs for Unit 3, and a fourth reactor anticipated to enter operation in late 2023 or early 2024, have topped $30 billion, according to an estimate by the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAP).

That is more than double the budget of $14 billion announced at the start of the project.

Cost overruns pushed original investor Westinghouse, a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba, to file for bankruptcy in 2017, and it withdrew from the project.

Once all four units are in operation, Vogtle will become the largest generator of clean energy in the nation, according to Georgia Power.

Vogtle Units 3 and 4 were the first new reactor projects approved by US authorities since 1979 and an incident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, the most serious nuclear accident in US history.

The most recent prior commission of a nuclear reactor was Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Tennessee, in 2016.

Construction for that reactor had begun in 1973. Work was suspended for more than two decades before the project was revived. AFP