PH shares zoom past 5,700

The local stock barometer climbed past the 5,700 mark on Tuesday as upbeat trade data out of China perked up regional markets.

Gaining for the second straight session and outperforming peers across emerging Asian markets, the Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 169.9 points, or 3.03 percent, to close at 5,780.88.

“China’s exports fell 6.6 percent in March from a year ago, while imports slipped 0.9 percent in the same month. This gave investors some optimism that the biggest economy in Asia is recovering faster than expected. This optimism overshadowed the jump in global COVID-19 cases overnight to over two million,” AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun said.

Foreigners, however, remained wary of local equities. Net foreign selling amounted to P1.29 billion.

All counters advanced, led by the industrial and services counters, which both surged by over 4 percent.

The financial counter advanced by over 3 percent, while the holding firm and property counters both gained over 2 percent.

Value turnover for the day improved to P7.38 billion.

Investors snapped up shares of fast-food giant Jollibee Corp., conglomerate Ayala Corp. and port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc., which all rallied by over 8 percent.

GT Capital advanced by 7.5 percent, while Puregold added 6.7 percent. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla