PSEi rises on reports US Federal Reserve may sustain stimulus

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer surged on Monday as a soft US jobs data boosted hopes for a sustained monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 97.79 points or 1.67 percent to close at 5,940.67.

Almost all counters jumped by over 1 percent as investors took their cue from upbeat trading across the region.

Value turnover amounted to P5.99 billion. There were 103 advancers that overshadowed 57 decliners while 40 stocks were unchanged.

Among those that bucked the uptrend was Top Frontier, SMC’s controlling stockholder, which slid by 44.4 percent on trading debut on Monday as investors heeded the lower valuation of SMC shares.

Metrobank and SMIC, which both gained by over 4 percent, led the PSEi’s rise. FGEN and Globe Telecom rose by over 3 percent while SM Prime, URC, BDO, Megaworld and Ayala firmed up by over 2 percent. DMCI, Jollibee, AP and MWC were up by over 1 percent.

The day’s biggest catalyst was a report that US payrolls increased by only 74,000 in December, the smallest increase in nearly three years and way lower than the 196,000 level expected by the market. This report raised expectations that the US Fed would go slow on its tapering of monetary stimulus, thereby boosting investors’ risk appetite.