SHARES inched up on Wednesday as investors went bargain hunting following Wall Street’s rise overnight and amid improved confidence in the economy’s prospects despite ballooning coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 129.44 points or 1.82% to 7,215.13 on Wednesday, while the broader all shares index gained 54.45 points or 1.44% to 3,829.91.

First Metro Investment Corp. Head of Research Cristina S. Ulang said investors are now betting the economy can withstand the effect of Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, even as cases continue to climb.

The Health department on Wednesday recorded 32,246 new cases of COVID-19, bringing active infections in the country to 208,164. 

The government has said it will not enforce hard lockdowns to keep the economy running.

Economic managers last week said the country could lose about P3 billion each week that the Metro Manila is under Alert Level 3, the second to the strictest quarantine restriction.

“The local market rallied this Wednesday as it took cues from Wall Street’s overnight rise,” Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial, Inc. said in a Viber message.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 183.15 points or 0.51% to 36,252.02; the S&P 500 gained 42.78 points or 0.92% to 4,713.07; and the Nasdaq Composite added 210.62 points or 1.41% to 15,153.45, Reuters reported.

Mr. Tantiangco however noted that trading remained lethargic, with net value turnover at P5.95 billion, below last year’s daily average of P7.38 billion.

Value turnover slipped to P5.95 billion with 854.66 million issues traded on Wednesday, from the P6.91 billion with 877.97 million shares that switched hands the previous trading day.

“The absence of an ‘accelerated change in policy’ statement on US Federal Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony before a Senate panel also boosted the market’s appetite for risky assets,” Regina Capital Development Corp.’s Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in a congressional hearing that pointed to his likely confirmation for a second term in the job, said the US central bank was determined to ensure high inflation did not become “entrenched,” Reuters reported.

Back home, all sectoral indices advanced at the end of Wednesday’s trading, led by mining and oil, which climbed 324.36 points or 3.40% to close at 9,860.75.

Property gained 101.63 points or 3.26% to 3,214.97; financials added 29.93 points or 1.84% to 1,649.64; holding firms increased 119.30 points or 1.72% to 7,025.70; services went up 15.03 points or 0.77% to 1,964.32; and industrials rose 71.36 points or 0.7% to 10,261.52.

Advancers outnumbered decliners, 133 against 49, while 50 names closed unchanged.

Foreigners turned buyers, recording P313.75 million in net purchases versus the P773.34 million in net outflows seen on Tuesday.

Mr. Limlingan put the PSEi’s support at 7,080 and resistance at 7,250. — M.C. Lucenio with Reuters

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