THE LOCAL stock market “defied gravity” ahead of President Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, lifting stocks on an initial Sona day of a new President for the first time in 24 years.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed higher by 0.3 percent to 8,049 less than an hour before Mr. Duterte began his Sona.
Analysts, however, had expected the market to move up anyway on Monday following strong gains from the US markets with the S&P 500 hitting another record high.
But BDO Unibank Inc. chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the PSEi gain on Monday was remarkable because of its rarity. The PSEi had declined on all first Sona days across three administrations in more than two decades, Ravelas said.
The PSEi fell during the initial Sonas of President Joseph Estrada (down 1.2 percent in 1998), President Gloria M. Arroyo (down 0.9 percent when she rose to office in 2001, and again lower by 1 percent following the 2004 elections) and then President Benigno Aquino III (down 0.01 percent in 2010).
The last time the PSEi gained was during the Ramos administration, after President Fidel V. Ramos assumed office in 1992. The PSEi rose then by 0.7 percent.
For the year, the PSEi has been one of the best performing indexes with a year-to-date gain of 15 percent. Miguel Camus
