FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Local stocks rebounded for the second session in a row on Thursday as investors reassessed views on US monetary policy as they welcomed indications that local interest rates would remain low.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 209.06 points or 3.42 percent to close at 6,328, tracking mostly upbeat regional markets. Investors took comfort from China’s moves to stabilize its money market as well as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ pledge to maintain an accommodative monetary stance. At the same time, a slower-than-expected US economic growth tempered concerns over a hasty unwinding of the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive bond buyback activities or quantitative easing.
All counters continued to rise, aided by bargain-hunters, but the biggest beneficiary was the holding firm counter (+4.15 percent). For the first time since the recent selldown, foreign investors turned net buyers at the local stock market amounting to P1.59 billion on Thursday, based on PSE data.
Value turnover amounted to P12.17 billion. There were 139 advancers versus 37 decliners while 32 stocks were unchanged.
The day’s biggest index gainers were AGI (+8.11 percent), Globe (+7.58 percent), Belle (+6.25 percent), Megaworld (+6.21 percent) and AEV (+5.55 percent). SM, AP and ICTSI all went up by over 4 percent while Bloomberry and Jollibee gained by over 3 percent.
Regional markets were also boosted by news that China had committed to stabilize money market and ease any liquidity crunch.