PHILIPPINE SHARES rebounded on last-minute bargain hunting on Tuesday, but failed to return to the 6,000 level due to losses intraday caused by the lack of clarity about the government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recovery plan.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) picked up 66.17 points or 1.12% to close at 5,927.11 on Tuesday. The broader all shares index added 25.81 points or 0.74% to end at 3,493.64.

“For the earlier part of the day, the PSEi declined to as low as 5,799.11 due to the lack of a detailed plan on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the President’s State of the Nation Address,” said Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial, Inc.

Investors anticipated President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s speech on Monday to shed light on the government’s COVID-19 recovery plan, but many were disappointed due to the lack of discussion of measures to boost the economy amid the crisis.

Mr. Duterte’s comments on telco giants Globe Telecom, Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. also affected the market on Tuesday. The president took a swipe at the firms in his State of the Nation Address and gave them a December deadline to improve services.

Shares in Globe and Smart’s listed parent PLDT, Inc. fell as much as 3.38% and 3.64% intraday, respectively. However, bargain hunting pulled PLDT shares up 0.53% at the market’s close, while Globe trimmed losses to 0.50%.

Lingering worries that businesses may have to limit operations again also affected sentiment on Tuesday as the local COVID-19 tally hit 82,040 on Monday. Malacañang previously threatened to put Metro Manila under stricter quarantine measures if the tally reaches 85,000 by this month’s end.

But the drop in stock prices continued to attract buyers to the market, enough to offset intraday losses.

“Local shares reversed earlier losses as investors watched lawmakers haggle over a coronavirus rescue program and braced for the busiest week of earnings season,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.

All sectoral indices ended the session with gains: mining and oil went up 69.14 points or 1.29% to 5,415.42; property increased 36 points or 1.25% to 2,913.84; holding firms climbed 72.33 points or 1.18% to 6,191.29; financials grew 10.83 points or 0.95% to 1,143.65; industrials added 57.77 points or 0.79% to 7,319.37; and services edged up 1.95 points or 0.14% to 1,363.58.

Some 1.96 billion shares valued at P4.31 billion switched hands on Tuesday, higher from the previous session’s P3.94 billion with 3.1 billion issues.

Advancers and decliners were tied at 97 at the end of trading, while 45 names ended unchanged.

Net foreign selling dropped to P415.60 million from P1.02 billion the previous day. — Denise A. Valdez

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