PSEi firms up on US cue

The local stock barometer started the week on an upbeat note, tracking an upswing in US and regional markets driven by investors’ optimism on US President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan and on his recent meeting with Japan Prime Minister Abe.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index added 59.46 points or 0.82 percent to close at 7,294.67 on Monday, driven by selective buying of large-cap stocks.

Elsewhere in the region, investors were emboldened by recent developments in the US while ignoring geopolitical risks from Sunday’s ballistic missile launch by North Korea.

“Philippine markets were bought up as US indexes registered third weekly gains fuelled by Donald Trump’s promises to amend the tax code,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

On Monday morning, Limlingan also noted that Japan’s latest gross domestic product (GDP) report was released and in line with market expectations. Japan’s fourth quarter GDP fell by 1.4 percent year-on-year but rose by 1 percent quarter-on-quarter.

“In China, the early Chinese New Year appears to have distorted January trade data (especially exports) on the upside, though underlying growth momentum appears to be firm as well. Although the consensus expected both exports and imports to rebound significantly this month due to underlying momentum as well as the early timing of the Chinese New Year, the data were even stronger than expected,” Limlingan said.

At the local market, the PSEi was led higher by holding firms alongside a rebound in the mining/oil counter. Both counters rose by over 1 percent.

Only the services counter slipped for the day, losing 0.22 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P5.86 billion. Despite the PSE’s gain, market breadth was negative as there were 112 decliners that outnumbered 91 advancers while 40 stocks were unchanged.

Investors picked up shares of Metrobank and Ayala Corp., which both rose by over 2 percent ahead of their fourth quarter earnings reports.

SM Investments, Universal Robina Corp., Manila Electric Co. and Abotiz Equity also rose by over 1 percent while Jollibee and ICTSI also gained.

On the other hand, Ayala Land, BDO, Security Bank, GT Capital and PLDT all slipped.

Outside the PSEi, there was massive profit-taking on Arthaland (-19.35 percent) and Pacifica (-6.15 percent).

Cement-maker Cemex continued to slide below its initial public offering (IPO) price after reporting weak fourth quarter results. Its shares fell by 1.09 percent to close at a new low of P9.99 per share. It debuted on the PSE in July last year at a price of P10.75 per share.