PSEi back to 7,200

The local stock barometer climbed back to the 7,200 mark on Thursday as domestic investors took heart from the overnight upswing in Wall Street.

Rebounding after a four-day slump, the Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 64.24 points or 0.9 percent to close at 7,234.94.

“Philippine markets were bought heavily after the strong rally last night.. U.S. stocks rallied and the Dow locked in the equal fastest 1,000-point gain of all time to breach 21,000 for the first time as investors embraced the combination of a ‘more subdued’ President (Donald Trump) and decisively hawkish Fed commentary,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

“From the reaction on Wall Street, it was clear that Mr. Trump’s optimistic and conciliatory speech to Congress resonated strongly with voters and the market alike. In addition, the latest Beige Book indicated that the U.S. economy continued its slow, steady advance at the beginning of the year. Businesses were generally optimistic about the near-term outlook but to a somewhat lesser degree than in the prior report. Pricing pressures were little changed from the prior report,” he added.

At the local market, the day’s gains were led by the financial counter which rose by 1.2 percent. The industrial, holding firm, services and property counters also firmed up.

Only the mining/oil counter ended a tad lower.

Value turnover for the day was thin at P5.64 billion.

Market breadth was positive, with 111 advancers edging out 74 decliners while 53 stocks were unchanged.

Local investors supported the day’s rise as foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of P416 million.

AC gained 2.42 percent while ALI, BDO, MPI, Metrobank, GT Capital, ICTSI and PLDT all firmed up by over 1 percent.

SMIC, Jollibee and Globe also firmed up.

Outside of the PSEi, one notable gainer was Apollo Global, which surged by 16.95 percent in heavy trade on the back of a backdoor listing plan by JDVC Resources Corp. JDVC is a P500-million domestic corporation set up to operate large scale high-grade magnetite mining operation in the province of Cagayan.

Leading canned food manufacturer Century Pacific also gained 2.33 percent.

On the other hand, SM Prime, Semirara and AEV slipped.

Notable decliners outside the PSEi included Cemex, which lost another 3.25 percent. Arthaland fell by 0.68 percent on profit-taking.