Philippine stock index breaches 5,200 on strong macroeconomic signs

MANILA, Philippines—Local stocks surged for a fourth session on Wednesday, allowing the main index to breach the 5,200 mark, as investors bet on the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 64.08 points, or 1.23 percent, to close at 5,257.92.

First Metro Securities president Gonzalo Ordoñez said the broad-based rally began weeks ago, starting with select index stocks led by PLDT, which climbed a wall of worry.

“As confidence increased, so did breadth, with 110 stocks moving up (Wednesday). While the rally might peter out in July over potential disappointments from external political and economic data, we think this presents selective opportunities to accumulate as domestic fundamentals remain strong,” Ordoñez said.

IGC Securities president Ismael Cruz said the strong performance of the local stock market recently was beyond window-dressing. “It’s due to the country’s strong fundamentals and a re-rating of local stocks. I think it’s more due to the re-rating,” he said.

Re-rating means that investors are willing to buy stocks at a higher price because they have upgraded their outlook on earning prospects.

Value turnover for the day was heavy at P7.97 billion. There were 110 advancers that overwhelmed 49 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged.

Investors loaded up on shares of index stocks like PLDT (+1.5 percent), Megaworld (+3.85 percent), Metrobank (+2.39 percent), SMIC (+2.54 percent), Aboitiz Power (+4.61 percent) and Belle (+8.11 percent).

SM Prime, MPI, DMCI, Globe, AC, AEV and EDC also benefited from the upswing.

SM stocks SMIC and Belle, as well as Belle’s casino partner LR, sizzled on news about a prospective partnership with Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment. LR was an outperformer among the most actively traded stocks, rising by 20.94 percent.

GT Capital, Bloomberry and Philex Petroleum also posted sharp gains for the day.

On the other hand, AGI, ALI and URC bucked the upswing. Elsewhere across the region, stock markets edged higher ahead of the conclusion of a European summit this week.