PSEi surges 7.44%; investors cheer news of $2-T US spending program

Corporate Philippines regained P548.35 billion from the local stock market on Thursday as bargain hunters took heart from an upcoming $2-trillion COVID-19 US spending program, thus driving the sharpest rally seen in 13 years.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) recouped 373.82 points, or 7.44 percent, to close at 5,401.58 points, gaining for the third straight session and tracking upbeat US and regional markets.

This marked its best sing­le-day performance since Aug. 21, 2007, when the index rose by 9.82 percent. However, the local stock market remains in bear territory as it is still 3,657.04 points, or 40.4 percent, below its peak of 9,058.62 points posted on Jan. 29, 2018.

The rally was led by SM group-led companies. Property giant SM Prime, the day’s most actively traded company, surged by 14.81 percent while banking giant BDO Unibank racked up 15.7 percent.

Domestic investors mostly supported the day’s upswing, making up for foreign investors’ sluggish appetite, as they looked forward to local pump-priming measures from both the fiscal and monetary side. There was P680.11 million worth of net foreign selling for the day.

All counters ended higher on Thursday, led by cyclical sectors property and financial subindices, which respectively rose by 9.33 percent and 8.31 percent.

The services counter advanced by 6.92 percent while the holding counter added 5.8 percent. The industrial and mining/oil counters rose by 4.1 percent and 3.22 percent, respectively.Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.67 billion.

There were 151 advancers that overwhelmed 48 decliners, while 26 companies were unchanged.

Aside from SM Prime and BDO, another stellar performer was Metro Pacific, which advanced by 10.16 percent.

PLDT and JG Summit both added nearly 10 percent, while BPI added over 9 percent.

Megaworld and Puregold rose by nearly 8 percent while ICTSI added over 7 percent.

SM Investments and Ayala Land both rose by over 5 percent while Ayala Corp. and Globe Telecom both went up by nearly 5 percent.  On the other hand, GT Capital fell by 2.56 percent, while Security Bank lost 0.92 percent.

“Investors in the PSE were more optimistic than their Asian peers as our main index is currently up more than 13 percent for the week. Investors that got out back in January because of the Taal volcano eruption may be getting back into the market as prices stabilize and start to correct to the upside,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at AAA Equities.