‘Tiger is roaring:’ PH recovery rouses PSEi to hit 2-year high

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) powered past a monthslong trading range on Wednesday to reach a two-year high amid bullish prospects on the economy’s further reopening, said BDO Unibank Inc. chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas.

Returning from the Lunar New Year holiday, the PSEi rallied 1.32 percent, or 97.34 points, to 7,448.99 after briefly touching the 7,517.5 level.

“It seems that the Philippine Tiger is roaring,” Ravelas told the Inquirer in an interview on Wednesday.

He said investors were now focused on domestic narratives such as the lower cases of COVID-19 and upcoming fourth quarter earnings season, which likely benefited from lower inflation in the latter part of 2021.

Large property firms such as Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings and banking giants BDO Unibank Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands lifted the PSEi.

On the background—at least for now—were external threats such as higher oil prices and the US Federal Reserve’s planned interest rate hikes, Ravelas said.

“The market is more concentrated on developments locally,” he added.

And the PSEi has room to move higher—Ravelas pointed to 7,700 level if the PSEi could stay above 7,350.

“The question is: are we able to milk this tiger to go 8,000?” he said.

Data from the PSE also showed the all-shares index jumped 0.74 percent, or 28.87 points, to 3,933.07.

All subsectors closed higher save for industrial stocks, which slid 0.17 percent. Property surged 3.02 percent, followed by financials, up 2.5 percent, and mining and oil, up 1.08 percent.

A total of 1.52 billion shares valued at P7.84 billion changed hands.

Foreigners helped fuel the rally with net purchases of P980.43 million.

There were 123 advancers versus 81 losers, while 47 companies closed unchanged.

Half-day schedule

Investors, meanwhile, looked past the PSE’s decision to walk back a plan to bring back the full trading hours on Feb. 2.

This meant the half-day trading schedule from 9:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. will continue until further notice.

The PSE, on Wednesday, also lifted the trading halt on DITO CME Holdings Corp. after the company disclosed additional information on the precedent-setting cancellation of its P8-billion stock rights offering.

DITO CME gained 1.38 percent to close at P5.15 per share after sinking 9.2 percent earlier in the session.

Ayala Land Inc. was the most actively traded on Wednesday as it jumped 3.06 percent to P37 per share.

It was followed by BDO Unibank Inc., up 3.48 percent to P139.70; SM Prime, up 3.13 percent to P36.20; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 2.55 percent to P100.60; and Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., up 4.5 percent to P2.32 per share.

Other active names were Security Bank Corp., up 2.61 percent to P110; SM Investments Corp., up 1.69 percent to P965; International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 0.10 percent to P200.20; Ayala Corp., up 0.92 percent to P878; and Monde Nissin Corp., up 1.10 percent to P16.56 per share.