Stocks track Wall Street rally

Local stocks rallied Wednesday, tracking an overnight surge in Wall Street to record highs, as investors anticipated that the US Federal Reserve will sustain its monetary stimulus program.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 53.75 points, or 0.82 percent to close at 6,597.21, firming up for the second straight session.

Reflective of buoyant markets, newly listed Harbor Star Shipping Services rose 1.6 percent. From its initial public offering price of P1.88 per share, Harbor Star—one of the country’s leading tugboat operators—saw its share price close at P1.91 on a value turnover of P77.6 million on listing day.

“I think Tugboat was priced quite cheaply but it’s really for the retail rather than institutional investors. It’s a good issue; it’s quite unique. We have very little logistics-type issues in the market so it gives retail investors a good choice for widening portfolio and given the history of small caps that are tradable and have gained following, this will be similarly tradable,” said Gus Cosio, president of First Metro Asset Management Inc.

“Given that the issuance comprises all new shares. It means all proceeds are going into the company; therefore, it’s value accretive,” Cosio said.

“We are pleased to note the company’s vigorous efforts to be the leader in harbor assistance services in the Philippines even as it prepares to seek growth opportunities in Southeast Asia. We are confident that Harbor Star will realize its aspirations,” PSE director Edgardo Lacson said in his welcome remarks at the listing ceremony Wednesday.

Harbor Star operates in 12 base ports all over the Philippines, including the major ports in Manila, Bataan, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro and Davao. In 2012, the company provided services to more than 5,600 ship calls, majority of which were foreign-flag vessels.

Markets across the globe are expecting the Federal Open Market Committee to maintain the status quo on its $85-billion monthly bond-buying operations during its ongoing monetary-setting meetings. This confirms an apparent market consensus that the much-feared tapering of monetary stimulus will not happen until next year.

US stocks closed at new all-time highs on Tuesday ahead of the FOMC meeting, sending good tidings to Asian markets.

At the local market, the day’s PSEi outperformers were AEV, ALI and BPI, which rose more than 3 percent. Megaworld was up 2.4 percent while LTG, Jollibee, ICTSI, MPI, AP and Metrobank were all up more than 1 percent.

On the other hand, a big PSEi lagger was SMC (-8.22 percent) due to the ex-date of the property dividend. SMC is distributing as property dividend shares in its controlling shareholder Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. as a prelude to the latter’s listing on the local stock exchange by way of introduction. Doris C. Dumlao