Philippine shares jumped yesterday as the rest of the region rallied on expectations that money would flow into risky assets like stocks after the United States Federal Reserve signaled fewer interest rate hikes in the near term.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index was up 2.06 percent, or 145.51 points, to 7,210.9 by the closing bell yesterday. The broader all-shares index was also up 1.71 percent to 4,159.03.
All subsectors closed in the green by more than 1 percent. Leading gains were services, up 2.74 percent; property, up 2.47 percent, and mining and oil, up 2.23 percent.
A total of 2.27 billion shares valued at P7.72 billion changed hands yesterday, data from the PSE showed. There were 126 gainers against 54 losers while 42 companies closed unchanged.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. led the list of most actively traded companies. It was up 2.99 percent to P1,932 per share.
PLDT was followed by Ayala Land Inc., up 2.5 percent to P34.85; Universal Robina Corp., up 2.73 percent to P203; Ayala Corp., up 0.68 percent to P740, and Globe Telecom, up 4.71 percent to P2,180 per share. Miguel R. Camus