LOCAL SHARES recovered on Wednesday as investors hunted for bargains despite continued negative sentiment due to the Hong Kong protests.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went up 0.9% or 70.20 points to close at 7,858.65 yesterday. The broader all-shares index also climbed 0.56% or 26.70 points to 4,768.92

“The PSEi did a rebound from [Tuesday]’s slump as investors hunt for bargains. With some blue chips reporting stellar earnings performance [on Tuesday], investors rushed to get in to SM (SM Investments Corp.), JFC (Jollibee Foods Corp.), ICT (International Container Terminal Services, Inc.), ALI (Ayala Land, Inc.) and BDO (BDO Unibank, Inc.) which helped lifted the index in the afternoon session,” Jervin S. de Celis, equity trader at Timson Securities, Inc., said in a text message.

However, he noted that foreigners remained as net sellers for the seventh straight session due to cautiousness amid the ongoing Hong Kong protests. Net foreign selling was logged at P959.09 million outflow yesterday, down from Tuesday’s P2.12 billion.

The protest, which has been going on for weeks, has caused hundreds of flights canceled from Hong Kong’s airport. This anti-government movement started in June in response to a proposed extradition bill, which is now suspended, but later on evolved into a movement demanding for democracy and investigations into police brutality.

Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez attributed the recovery to the performance of US markets.

“The index ended 70 points in the green at 7,858.65, largely just following optimism from the US market session last night,” Mr. Perez said in an e-mail on Wednesday, adding that this “should be the barometer to look out for moving forward.”

US stocks closed higher on Tuesday after an announced delay of planned tariffs on some Chinese imports brought buyers back to the equities market in a broad-based rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 372.54 points or 1.44% to 26,279.91; the S&P 500 gained 42.57 points or 1.48% to 2,926.32; and the Nasdaq Composite added 152.95 points or 1.95% to 8,016.36.

Back home, all sub-sectors ended in the green except for the holding firms counter, which lost 0.15% or 12.19 points to end at 7,658.82.

Meanwhile, industrials went up 2.12% or 227.32 points to 10,928.30; property rose 1.99% or 79.60 points to 4,073; services climbed 1.41% or 22.22 points to 1,591.96; financials gained 0.4% or 7.28 points to 1,826.28; and mining and oil added 0.33% or 27.04 points to end the session at 8,230.03.

Some 1.17 billion issues valued at P6.56 billion switched hands on Wednesday, lower than the previous session’s P8.58 billion.

Advancers outnumbered losers, 112 to 83, while 40 issues were unchanged. — V.M.P. Galang

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