THE MAIN INDEX continued its climb on Monday as investors hope for some stability in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 223.84 points or 4.18% to end at 5,570.81. The broader all shares index added 101.09 points or 3.10% to close at 3,360.75.

“With the…coronavirus death toll appearing to be peaking in the hardest hit nations such as New York and Italy, most of the regional markets including the Philippines rebounded,” Diversified Securities, Inc. Equity Trader Aniceto K. Pangan said in a text message yesterday.

Italy and France started seeing fewer deaths due to COVID-19 in the previous week: France recorded 357 deaths marking its lowest daily increase in a week, and Italy had 525 deaths marking its lowest in more than two weeks, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.

“Local shares climbed as the Eurozone epicenter cases declined, signaling the possibility of some stability in the spread of the disease,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said via Viber.

Spain has become the country with most COVID-19 cases in Europe with more than 131,600 as of yesterday. It is now second in the world next to the United States which has more than 337,600 cases.

COVID-19 has sickened about 1.28 million across the globe and has killed more than 69,000 as of Monday afternoon.
In the Philippines, the COVID-19 tally has reached 3,246 cases, 152 deaths and 64 recoveries as of Sunday night.

“The market went up especially during the last minute of trading as investors rushed to hunt for bargain issues,” Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Darren T. Pangan said in a text message.

All sectoral indices closed higher: industrials by 432.36 points or 6.72% to 6,866.33; services by 72.52 points or 6.10% to 1,261.42; holding firms by 215.76 points or 4.09% to 5,481.28; property by 73.70 points or 2.61% to 2,897.86; financials by 20.53 points or 1.73% to 1,204.31; and mining and oil by 36.36 points or 0.85% to 4,298.23.

Value turnover climbed to P4.86 billion with 757 million issues switching hands from Friday’s P4.03 billion with 293.3 million issues.

Advancers beat decliners, 119 against 76, while 41 names ended unchanged.
Net foreign selling stood at P470.75 million, down from Friday’s P570.32 million. — Denise A. Valdez

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR