PSEi nears 7,400 on post-election euphoria

LOCAL stocks rallied strongly to end near the 7,400 mark on Wednesday, outperforming regional markets, as post-election day euphoria extended for a second day.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 221.64 points or 3.09 percent to close at at a nine-month high of 7,396.52.

The day’s close was the best finish seen by the PSEi since ending at 7,408.44 on Aug.14 last year. The index hit an intra-day high of 7,423.52.

This rally also marked the PSEi’s single biggest daily gain since Jan. 27 this year. Elsewhere in the region, stock markets traded with mixed sentiment.

Following the peaceful conduct of the hotly contested May 9 presidential elections, the Filipino people gave an overwhelming mandate to the unorthodox mayor of Davao City Rodrigo Duterte.

“Investors are making a killing in the market. Euphoria is still up in the air given the peaceful and orderly election,” said Astro del Castillo, managing director at fund management firm First Grade Finance. “Confidence with the new administration continues to flow back as value turnover remains above the norm.”

However, Del Castillo said investors should expect a “reality check” towards Friday or early next week, suggesting a pullback as investors lock up profits after the post-election rally.

Sub-indices surged across the board, led by the financial, property and holding firm counters which all advanced by over 3 percent. These are the counters seen as proxies to the economic cycle.

The industrial, services and mining/oil counters likewise all gained by over 2 percent.

Buying conviction was higher, with the day’s value turnover hitting P12.86 billion. There were 160 advancers that overwhelmed 50 decliners while 34 stocks were unchanged.

Conglomerate JG Summit led the PSEi’s rise, gaining by 6.54 percent. SM Prime, the day’s most actively traded stock, surged by over 5.21 percent while Megaworld also advanced by 5.19 percent.

Investors also loaded up on shares of Metrobank, which rose by 4.8 percent, while AC, PLDT, BDO, AEV, GTCAP and Globe all rose by over 3 percent.

ALI, SMIC and MPI jumped by over 2 percent while Jollibee rose by over 1 percent. AGI and RLC also contributed to the PSEi’s gains.

Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers included retailer Puregold (+4.63 percent), Security Bank (+5 percent) and retailer RRHI (+6.06 percent).