PSEi rallies on OPEC crude deal

THE LOCAL stock barometer rallied to the 7,700 level on Thursday as a surprise deal among oil producers to curb output boosted oil prices and regional stock markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 127.9 points or 1.69 percent to close at 7,714.86 as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) deal on crude supply sent good tidings to regional markets.

“An agreement at this meeting has taken markets by surprise. Oil price shot up by more than 5 percent. There is lot of skepticism over implementation and success of such an agreement. Also, many question the extent of reduction to be effective. But the willingness of OPEC to act on supply together with reported declines in crude oil inventories will likely keep oil prices supported,” Citigroup said in a research note.

Details of the deal including supply quotas for countries are expected to be finalized at the next OPEC meeting in November.

In the meantime, Citi said market expectation for a US Federal Reserve hike in interest rates this year was about 54 percent.

At the local market, all counters firmed up, led by the property counter which surged by 3.29 percent. The services counter was up by 2.1 percent while the holding firm and mining/oil counters added over 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.54 billion. There were 120 advancers that edged out 70 decliners while 48 stocks were unchanged.

“Investors bought up the market in advance of the third quarter 2016 window-dressing as markets pierced the resistance of 7,700,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

Property stocks Megaworld and SM Prime led the market higher, respectively rising by 5.62 percent and 4.53 percent while port operator ICTSI also rose by 4.58 percent.

MPI and DMCI both gained over 3 percent while ALI, BDO, JG Summit and RLC all rose by over 2 percent.

Metrobank, Globe and SMIC all surged by over 1 percent while AC, GTCAP and URC also firmed up.

Outside of the PSEi, investors loaded up on shares of Nickel Asia, which rose by 6.45 percent as it is seen to benefit from the current mining shakeout while FNI also gained 3.23 percent.

Bloomberry fell by 4.27 percent after an unfavourable ruling from an arbitration court on its dispute with Solaire’s former management firm, Las Vegas-based Global Gaming Philippines LLC (GGAM).