PSE index rallies past 8,200 ahead of Fed, BSP

THE Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) maintained it strength as it soared past the 8,200 mark on Monday to close at a fresh all-time high for the third straight session.

The PSEi finished higher by 113.29 points or 1.38% at 8,294.14 yesterday.

Monday’s close was a new record for the main index, eclipsing Friday’s 8,180.85 and is also its new all-time intraday high.

Since the start of the year, the PSEi has gained 21.2%, the PSE said.

The broader all-shares index also finished higher by 50.15 points or 1.03% at 4,886.48.

“Shares continued their upward trajectory as an important trading week sees the end of the ghost month and the meeting of several central banks including our own. Both S&P 500 and Dow finished at records, which also propelled the Philippines to new heights,” said Luis A. Limlingan, business development head at Regina Capital Development Corp.

Last Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29% to end at 22,268.34 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.18% to 2,500.23, records for both. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% to 6,448.47.

Back home, sectoral counters finished mixed on Monday, although those that closed in the green did so strongly.

Holding firms climbed by 184.28 points or 2.28% to finish at 8,234.38 to lead advancers. Property stocks gained 64.69 points or 1.64% to 3,991.49; financials rose 19.08 points or 0.96% to 1,992.94; and services gained 2.06 points or 0.11% to end the day at 1,741.01.

On the other hand, mining and oil stocks were down 16.56 points or 0.11% to close at 14,252.16, and industrials gave up 9.22 points or 0.08% to finish at 11,358.04.

Value turnover thinned to P8.11 billion on Monday from the previous session’s P11.18 billion, with 1.3 billion shares changing hands.

A total of 121 stocks advanced yesterday, outpacing the 83 that retreated. Unchanged issues numbered 46.

Foreigners sold more stocks than they bought, closing the session with net selling of P45.63 million, a reversal of Friday’s net buying of P473.68 million.

SM Investments Corp. came out as the most active stock yesterday, followed by Ayala Corp. The others in the top five are Ayala Land, Inc., SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and BDO Unibank, Inc.

Globally, the main event for markets will be the US Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday where it is likely to take another step toward normalization in what is rapidly becoming a global trend.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will also be holding its rate-setting meeting on Thursday.

“We expect the BSP to leave policy rates unchanged, keeping the overnight reverse repo rate at 3% and the overnight deposit rate at 2.5%. While headline inflation has ticked up over the past two months, our projections suggest that year-over-year inflation could stay quite muted through the end of the year,” Mr. Limlingan said. — Victor V. Saulon with Reuters