By Arra B. Francia, Senior Reporter

LOCAL SHARES climbed on Monday on the back of the resumption of trade negotiations between the United States and China.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) firmed up 0.55% or 44 points to close at 8,043.71, once again pushing past the 8,000 mark. The broader all-shares index likewise rose 0.44% or 21.87 points to 4,915.65.

“Investors breathed a momentary sigh of relief with trade talks resuming and the Huawei sanction partially lifted. The local ended the session with a lot of hopes that the G20 summit over the weekend will restart the trade talk between China and US,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message.

US President Donald J. Trump reportedly said his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was “better than expected.” Mr. Trump has agreed not to impose new tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods for the time being, while also allowing US firms to sell products from tech giant Huawei as long as they do not threaten US national security.

Mr. Trump also said that China has agreed to buy large amounts of US agricultural products to reduce the trade imbalance.

Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez, meanwhile, noted that the PSEi’s reaction to the G20 Summit was “positive yet muted,” saying that investors should look at how Wall Street performs overnight.

“Issue to watch out for this time would be how US markets react to the G20 developments as they open tonight — more so that the Dow and S&P 500 futures are currently up by around 1.2%,” Mr. Perez said in an e-mail on Monday.

Last Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.28% or 73.38 points to 26,599.96. The S&P 500 index rallied 0.58% or 16.84 points to 2,941.76, while the Nasdaq Composite index edged higher by 0.48% or 38.49 points to 8,006.24.

Back home, the services counter was the lone one in the red, dropping 0.67% or 11.56 points to close at 1,699.73.

The rest went up, led by property which jumped 1.67% or 71.76 points to 4,345.53. Mining and oil advanced 0.86% or 65.56 points to 7,656.77; holding firms gained 0.43% or 33.72 points to 7,736.73; industrials was up 0.36% or 42.82 points to 11,744.57; while financials added 0.03% or 0.67 point to 1,720.75.

Some 1.24 billion issues valued at P5.31 billion switched hands, significantly lower than the previous session’s P19.56-billion turnover.

Decliners outpaced advancers by a hair, 99 to 98, while 57 names were unchanged.

Foreign investors remained in net selling mode for the fifth straight session at P234.13 million, although dropping from Friday’s P6.38 billion.

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