PSEi joins global stocks rebound

The local stock barometer ended a three-day slump on Wednesday, returning to the 6,900 level on the back of a global stock market rebound.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 51.17 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 6,942.47, tracking upbeat Wall Street and regional markets.

Overnight, the closely watched Dow Jones Industrial Index racked up 390.3 points, or 2.42 percent, to close at 16,492.68.

At the local market, all counters were up but the the day’s gains were led by the financial and mining/oil counters which both rose by over 1 percent.

Value turnover improved to P7.61 billion from the previous day’s P4.73 billion. There were 106 advancers or nearly double the 54 decliners while 35 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by Metrobank, SM Prime, MPI, Megaworld and Globe which all advanced by over 2 percent while URC, AC, LTG, BDO and RLC also firmed up by over 1 percent.

GTCAP, PLDT, JG Summit and Semirara also gained.

On the other hand, ALI and SMIC ended lower. Outside of the PSEi, Puregold declined by 2.76 percent on reports that the Bureau of Internal Revenue would appeal to higher courts its P2.7-billion tax dispute with the retailer. DNL also fell by 0.37 percent.

“Risk assets rallied overnight with sharp bounce in US equities and commodity prices,” Citigroup said in a research note on Wednesday. However, it warned that the volatility in risk asset markets would likely remain high into next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

With the turmoil in China, many investors have scaled back expectations of a hike in US Federal Reserve’s interest rates during this month’s meeting.