PSEi rallies ahead of Q4 GDP data

The local stock barometer rallied on Monday as domestic investors expect the Philippines to post good fourth quarter domestic economic growth data this week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 141.69 points or 1.96 percent to close at 7,374.35, outperforming mostly buoyant regional markets.

Investors took their cue from firmer trading in Wall Street on Friday when businessman Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president. It was the first time in 50 years that US stocks had gone up during a new president’s inauguration.

“After a relatively peaceful inauguration last week, investors resumed bargain hunting on the assumption the Philippines would be one (of the) least vulnerable economies relative to the all the global geopolitical uncertainties. China also avoided additional headwinds by reporting fourth quarter GDP (gross domestic product) at 6.8 percent through robust monetary and fiscal stimulus,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at local stock brokerage Regina Capital Development.

“In addition, investors are positioning ahead of larger economic data coming out during the week. On Thursday Philippine GDP will be announced with median forecasts so far at around 6.6 percent,” Limlingan said.

Regina Capital estimates the country’s fourth quarter growth at 6.7 percent or slightly higher than consensus.

The US is also scheduled to release its fourth quarter GDP data this week. At the same time, Limlingan noted that Bank of Japan was expected to leave its monetary policy unchanged.

Domestic investors powered the PSEi’s rise on Monday. On the other hand, foreign investors were more cautious as indicated by P142 million net foreign selling for the day.

Value turnover amounted to P5.61 billion. There were 108 advancers that outnumbered 79 decliners while 45 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by holding firms – a proxy to the domestic economy – whose counter rose by 2.26 percent. The financial, industrial, services and property counters also gained over 1 percent.

Only the mining/oil counter slipped for the day.

The country’s largest conglomerate SM Investments led the PSEi higher with its 5.37 percent gain while Ayala Land and Ayala Corp. both rose by over 3 percent.

Metrobank, BDO Unibank and Universal Robina Corp. all added 2 percent while BPI and ICTSI went up by over 1 percent.

Security Bank, GT Capital, Aboitiz Equity Ventures and DMCI also contributed gains.

Outside the PSEi, notable gainers were gaming firms Bloomberry (+4.26 percent) and Melco Crown (+4.75 percent).

On the other hand, AGI fell by 1.25 percent while Semirara slipped by 0.14 percent.