LOCAL stocks continued to rally on Friday, closing above the 7,700 level, as investors kept an eye on the historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 103.6 points or 1.36% to close at 7,721.02 on Friday. The all-shares index also rose by 53.78 points or 1.16%, closing at 4,671.83.
Harry G. Liu, Summit Securities Inc. president, pointed to a “technical rebound” as the reason behind the stock market rally.
“Some investible money has seen some fundamental issues come down quite substantially that buying support came in,” he said.
For Luis A. Limlingan, Managing Director of Regina Capital Development Corp., the events in the Korean Peninsula drove the performance of the local stock market.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the first time on Friday, agreeing to work for the “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
Mr. Limlingan also noted the European Central Bank’s announcement keeping the interest rates unchanged propelled US stocks to rise on Thursday, prompting the Philippine market to follow its lead.
“After market positive earnings from Amazon, Intel and Microsoft further push the index higher. European markets were stronger across the board last night as investors drew comfort from stronger earnings numbers whilst the ECB left rates unchanged,” Mr. Limlingan said.
Diversified Securities, Inc. equities trader Aniceto K. Pangan also said that the decline in US Treasury yields helped Philippine stocks rally at the end of the week.
All six sectors ended in the green on Friday. Holding firms gained 201.28 points or 2.66% to close at 7,770.34, followed by mining & oil which increased by 131.98 points or 1.28% to 10,371.42.
Industrials added 128.79 points or 1.19% to close at 10,948.34, while property was up by 23.57 points or 0.65% to close at 3,612.84. Financials closed 0.19% higher to 1,946.74, while services inched up 0.07% to 1,539.13.
Advances outpaced decliners 124 to 69. Fifty-two issues were unchanged.
Summit Securities’ Mr. Liu said the local stock market is going through a “medium term rally.”
“There seems to be a technical rally ongoing. What causes the rally is there are no bad news in sight,” he said.
Foreign selling reached P744.73 million on Friday. — Denise A. Valdez

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