PSEi up 1.22% on China monetary easing

The local stock barometer on Monday rallied to the 7,300 level, aided by an upswing in regional markets.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 88.02 points or 1.22 percent to close at 7,324.40 as fresh monetary easing in China perked up markets in the region.

All counters firmed up but the biggest gainer was the services sub-index which rose by 2.47 percent. Even ahead of the new monetary stimulus in China, the local market was expected to rise this week after breaking the 7,200 resistance last week.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.39 billion. There were 116 advancers, 70 decliners and 32 stocks were unchanged.

The index was led by ICTSI which surged by 7 percent.

ALI, Metrobank and RLC allrose by more than 3 percent while JG Summit, GTCAP and AGI advanced by more than 2 percent.

PLDT, BPI, AC, SMIC, Megaworld and Globe all firmed up by over 1 percent. URC and MPIC also contributed modest gains.

Outside of the PSEi, DNL rose by 2.94 percent while Puregold rose by 0.83 percent ahead of third quarter earnings results.

On the other hand, BDO slipped by 3.44 percent after reporting its nine-month profits, which rose by 5.4 percent including the impact of its acquisition of One Rural Bank.

In China, the PBoC reduced interest rates by 25 basis points and the reserve requirements by 50 to 100 basis points while removing the deposit ceiling.

“Further policy easing measures are warranted to stabilize growth given investment slowdown and manufacturing sector weakness,” investment bank BofA Merrill Lynch said. “We expect two more interest rate cuts in 2016, fiscal expansion and other countercyclical measures.”Doris Dumlao-Abadilla