PSEi up 2.1% as local stocks recover

A general shot of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Makati. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Most local stocks took a respite Friday after the massive bloodbath seen in the last few days, tracking the rebound across regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index recovered 128.18 points or 2.1 percent to close at 6,242.26. The local stock barometer, however, still ended with one of the worst weekly losses in history, declining by 459.69 or 6.86 percent due to the outflows in the last two sessions.

“What’s happening is a de-leveraging of funds from emerging markets back to the US and unwinding of trades, as you can see with the appreciation of the euro, yen and US dollar. They are getting out of emerging markets because of rising bond yields,” said stock market veteran Wilson Sy, a director at mutual fund management firm Philequity Management.

“But at the end of the day, fundamentals will hold. What’s good is that this (decline) opens the window for investors to pick up stocks at cheaper valuations. So we are looking at selected stocks,” Sy said in an interview.

There were 111 advancers in the market Friday, overwhelming 50 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged. Some P10.86 billion worth of stocks changed hands at the local bourse.

The day’s biggest gainer among index stocks was San Miguel Corp. (+5.95 percent), followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc. (+5.06 percent). Alliance Global Group Inc., SM Investments, Bloomberry Resorts and SM Prime Holdings all gained more than 4 percent while Megaworld Corp., Petron Corp., Belle Corp. and Aboitiz Power rose 3 percent.

There was modest net foreign buying for the day, with foreign inflows of P6.47 billion slightly exceeding foreign outflows of P6.44 billion, based on PSE data.

Across the region, stock markets also recovered from the hefty decline seen in the last few days. Nikkei 225 was up 1.94 percent while Thailand’s SET index bounced by 3.58 percent.

“These are just fund flows moving in and out, going to US and putting them back in treasuries,” Sy said, citing the US Federal Reserve’s signal that it might reduce the bond-buyback activities that have boost global liquidity and perked up stock markets.