PHILIPPINE SHARES climbed on Monday as investors went bargain hunting after the local bourse’s decline last week.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 61.95 points or 1.01% to close at 6,150.70 on Monday. The broader all shares index also increased 26.08 points or 0.72% to end at 3,6025.68.

“Local shares finished as investors looked past mixed US earnings reports and retraced some of last week’s losses,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.

The PSEi fell 1.75% last week as investors worried over stricter quarantine measures due to the growing number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines.

The Department of Health reported 67,456 COVID-19 cases in the country as of Sunday, while the global tally has reached 14.51 million cases as of Monday.

Due to the lack of fresh catalysts, Mr. Limlingan said investors went bargain hunting while waiting for the US jobless claims report due out on Thursday.

Wall Street’s major indexes tumbled more than 2% on Friday as several US states imposed business restrictions in response to a surge in coronavirus cases.

Some US states that were spared the brunt of the initial coronavirus outbreak or moved early to lift restrictions are seeing a resurgence in new infections. On Friday, Texas and Florida ordered bars to close down again.

Renewed concerns over the novel coronavirus pandemic have threatened to derail a strong rally for Wall Street that has erased much of the S&P 500’s steep losses from March. The benchmark index ended below its 200-day moving average, an indicator of long-term momentum.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.76 points or 0.23% to 26,671.95; the S&P 500 was up 9.16 points or 0.28% to 3,224.73; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 29.36 points or 0.28% to 10,503.19.

For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.87%, the Dow lost 3.31%, and the Nasdaq shed 1.87%.

In Asia, most markets were trading in green territory when the PSE closed on Monday.

Most sectoral indices at the PSE likewise ended Monday’s session with gains. Property rose 61.24 points or 2.08% to 3,002.14; industrials picked up 89.94 points or 1.21% to 7,507.59; holding firms improved 57.02 points or 0.89% to 6,462.73; and services added 4.43 points or 0.31% to 1,421.85.

On the other hand, mining and oil dropped 66.68 points or 1.3% to 5,045.35, and financials shed 1.05 points or 0.08% to 1,197.40 at the close of trading.

Some 2.27 billion issues valued at P3.11 billion switched hands on Monday, higher than the 1.84 billion issues worth P4.12 billion from Friday’s session.

Advancers bested decliners, 109 against 75, while 52 names ended unchanged.

Net foreign selling was trimmed to P47.63 million on Monday from the P525.73 million on Friday and P641.67 million seen on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez with Reuters

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