THE PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rounded up a week punctuated by record highs by going deeper into 8,400 territory to end Friday at a fresh peak, keeping in step with much of Asia.

The PSEi gained 45.13 points or 0.54% to end 8,447.94 – which was also Friday’s peak – while the all-share index added 9.83 points or 0.20% to finish 4,938.11.

The benchmark index ended Friday 1.65% higher than the past week’s finish and was 23.5% up year-to-date.

This week had seen PSEi close at record highs four times, taking a rest only on Oct. 11, Wednesday, which nevertheless saw an 8,427.13 intraday peak.

Sought for comment, Harry G. Liu, president of Summit Securities, Inc., in a telephone interview noted that “[t]he market is on an uptrend” towards 8,500.

“This is also due to the tax reform which the government is preparing to implement…” Mr. Liu explained, referring to the first of up to five tax reform packages that now awaits plenary approval in the Senate, after securing final approval at the House of Representatives last May 31, on track to enactment by yearend and implementation starting January 2018.

Tax reform, besides official development assistance and public-private partnerships, is programmed to help finance the current administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program that will see the government spend P8.44 trillion on infrastructure up to 2022, when President Rodrigo R. Duterte ends his six-year term.

Friday saw the six sectoral indices equally divided between those that gained and those that lost.

Financials increased by 38.80 points or 1.91% to end 2,064.42, property firms gained 42.64 points or 1.09% to 3,954.74, while industrial companies edged up by 5.74 points or 0.05% to 11,061.80.

Sectors that lost consisted of mining and oil that retreated by 116.43 points or 0.84% to 13,674.22, services that gave up 11.16 points or 0.65% at 1,701.60 and holding firms that declined by 3.32 points or 0.04% to 8,634.63.

Stocks that declined outnumbered those that gained by 106 to 91, while those that were unchanged totaled 45.

Trading volume thinned to 862.165 million stocks worth P9.557 billion on Friday from Thursday’s 3 billion shares worth P8.209 billion.

Foreigners remained net buyers for a second straight day, with the amount growing nearly threefold to P651.183 million from Thursday’s P247.239 million.

While Wall Street retreated from recent record highs on Thursday – with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.14% at 22,841.01, S&P 500 Index down 0.17% at 2,550.93 and the Nasdaq Composite Index down 0.18% at 6,591.51 – many of Asia’s major markets were on the rise on Friday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Index were up 0.96% at 21,155.18 and 0.50% at 1,708.62, respectively.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.06% up to 28,476.43, the Shanghai-Shenzhen blue-chip CSI 300 Index went up 0.21% to 3,921.00, the Shanghai SE Composite Index rose 0.13% to 3,390.52, the S&P/ASX 200 Index increased by 0.34% to 5,814.15 while the MSCI AC Asia Pacific gained 0.40% to 165.70.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, which had closed a fresh record-high 2,458.16 on Thursday, edged down 0.05% to 2,473.62 on Friday.

Among Friday’s most actively traded stocks, those that gained were led by BDO Unibank, Inc. that increased by 3.32% to P143.30 apiece, Security Bank Corp. which added 3.10% to P259.80, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. that rose by 2.49% to P90.55 and Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. that climbed 2.26% to P20.35 each.

Those that lost were led by PLDT, Inc. that gave up 1.38% to P1,641 each; Philippine Seven Corp. that retreated by 1.15% to P172; Ayala Corp. that dropped 0.56% to P1,071; as well as Bank of the Philippine Islands and Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. that each declined by 0.10% to P99.90 and P97.90 apiece, respectively.

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