PSE index ends higher, tracking Asian, US markets
SHARES continued to rise on Wednesday on sustained bargain hunting and Wall Street’s rally and despite higher oil prices and the World Bank’s dampened global growth outlook.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 15.61 points or 0.23% to close at 6,769.62 on Wednesday, while the broader all shares index went up by 6.33 points or 0.17% to 3,604.84.
“The local bourse climbed further this Wednesday on the back of bargain hunting. The positive cues from Wall Street also helped in Wednesday’s climb, backed by the decline in long-term bond yields,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message.
“Philippine shares rose for a second consecutive day as global markets shrugged off some signs of an economic slowdown ahead of a key inflation reading,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.
“Oil prices notched higher yesterday as the market tried to juggle risk sentiment and tight supply concerns,” he added.
Mercantile Securities Corp. Analyst Jeff Radley C. See said that factors like oil prices and weakening of the peso pose a “great impact” to the country since we are a net importer.
Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, encouraged by a rally on Wall Street for the second straight day as technology and energy shares gained, Reuters reported.
The S&P 500 technology index rose 1% and gave the benchmark index its biggest boost.
Brent crude futures for August had risen 59 cents or 0.48% to $121.15 a barrel by 0533 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude for July was at $120.09 a barrel up 66 cents or 0.55%.
Regina Capital’s Mr. Limlingan said investors also priced in the World Bank’s latest report, where it slashed its global growth forecast to 2.9% from its initial projection of 4.1% earlier this year on surging commodity prices and uncertainties brought by the dragging pandemic.
Meanwhile, it retained its 5.7% gross domestic product growth forecast for the Philippines for this year. This is below the government’s revised full-year growth target of 7-8%.
Sectoral indices were split on Wednesday. Financials climbed by 13.66 points or 0.84% to 1,625.17; industrials gained 63.14 points or 0.69% to end at 9,195.36; and holding firms rose by 14.04 points or 0.22% to 6,274.53.
Meanwhile, services fell by 8.77 points or 0.47% to 1,847.69; mining and oil declined by 9.06 points or 0.07% to 12,422.28; and property gave up 1.35 points or 0.04% to close at 3,180.99.
Advancers outnumbered decliners, 109 versus 78, while 46 names ended unchanged.
Value turnover grew to P5.37 billion with 744.91 million shares changing hands from the P4.96 billion with 877.07 million issues seen on Tuesday.
Net foreign selling dropped to P156.68 million from the P512.12 million seen the previous trading day. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson with Reuters
