Stocks rally as investors hunt for bargains

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
Local stocks climbed on Wednesday as investors continued to search for bargains given the main index’s historically low valuation.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 1.12% or 81.08 points to 7,348.42. The broader all shares index likewise rallied 1.003% or 44.21 points to 4,454.04.
“I think it’s primarily driven by broad bargain-hunting since the index is already trading at the low end of its historical valuation range. Investors might have also positioned in anticipation of a positive inflation release tomorrow,” China Bank Securities Corp. Research Director Garie G. Ouano said in a text message.
This is the first time the PSEi managed to stay in positive territory for four consecutive sessions since February, when the market was trading around the 8,600 level.
“Potential inflation surprises notwithstanding, I do think the rally is sustainable since the index is cheap already and a lot of the risks previously seen are short-term in nature,” Mr. Ouano said.
The mining and oil sector was the lone sub-index that suffered a loss, giving up 0.43% or 42.18 points to 9,669.62.
Services led advancers as the counter soared 1.93% or 26.83 points to 1,418.27, followed by property with an increase of 1.75% or 62.24 points to 3,625.24. Holding firms went up 1% or 71.59 points to 7,252.76; financials rose 0.61% or 10.98 points to 1,798.59, while industrial climbed 0.18% or 18.40 points to 10,465.87.
Some 590.0 million issues switched hands, resulting to a turnover of P4.94 billion, staying just above the P4.8-billion turnover on Tuesday.
The market saw an equal number of advancers and decliners at 100 stocks each, while 56 names ended flat.
Investors continued to pluck up select large cap stocks. Shares in SM Investments Corp were the most actively traded resulting to a 1.09% increase to P925 each. Ayala Corp followed with a rise of 1.42% to P928 apiece, while SM Prime Holdings, Inc.’s shares gained 2.78% to P37 each.