Philippine stocks spring back to 5,000 level

https://www.pse.com.ph/stockMarket/home.html photo

MANILA, Philippines—The local stocks index sprang back to the 5,000 level on Thursday as hopes for a bailout of fragile Spanish banks and fresh US monetary easing boosted global risk appetite.

Gaining for the third straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index surged by 56.37 points, or 1.14 percent, to finish at 5,022.95.

“Today’s upswing was a continuation of yesterday’s rally where the market positively reacted to hints of additional easing by both US and European monetary authorities,” said PNB Securities deputy chief Manny Lisbona on Thursday. “Greek issues are still far from being over and will be closely watched by market participants.”

Risk appetite was robust elsewhere in the region as investors took their cue from the overnight Wall Street rally, which was the sharpest for this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Index surged by 286.84 points, or 2.37 percent, to finish at 12,414.79.

In a research note, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. said the domestic market would continue its upward momentum following Wall Street’s massive gains. “While hints of a monetary stimulus are present, nothing is still certain. Investors should still trade cautiously,” it said.

“Hopes of policy support have boosted markets but expectations look overdone,” said investment bank Credit Agricole CIB.

At the local market, all counters ended higher but the biggest beneficiaries of the day’s upswing were the mining/oil, industrial and holding firm counters, which climbed by 1.94 percent, 1.41 percent and 1.29 percent, respectively.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P4.72 billion. There were 104 advancers that overwhelmed 49 decliners while 48 stocks were unchanged.

The index was led higher by heavyweight PLDT, which gained 1.16 percent. BDO, AGI, DMCI, URC, ALI, BPI, SM Prime, Metrobank, First Gen, Philex, Aboitiz Power and Ayala Corp. also contributed to the PSEi’s rise.

Among non-index stocks, newly listed Calata also firmed up, gaining 5.68 percent for the day while GT Capital, Lepanto, East West Bank and Puregold also jumped.