Philippine stocks up 2%

Photo from pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Local stocks rallied by 2.05 percent on Wednesday as the recent market pullback attracted bargain-hunting while regional markets surged in anticipation of fresh monetary stimulus from Bank of Japan and a resolution of US’ fiscal cliff.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 115.8 points to close at 5,752.39, rising for the second session.

The day’s upswing was led by the cyclical property (+3.08 percent) and financial (+2.09 percent) counters while the rest of the sub-indices posted over 1 percent gains.

Eagle Equities Inc. president Joseph Roxas said it’s possible that the recent 200-basis-point pullback from record highs had attracted bargain hunters.

The index stocks that fueled the PSEi’s surge were SM Prime (+5.28 percent), EDC (+4.72 percent), DMCI (+3.77 percent), MPI (+3.7 percent), ALI (+3.6 percent), ICTSI (+3.44 percent), BPI (+3.2 percent), BDO (+2.79 percent), Meralco (+2.73 percent) and SMIC (+2.53 percent).

The day’s most actively traded stock was Belle (+1.91 percent) while other stocks that contributed to the day’s gains were Metrobank, PLDT, AEV, Megaworld, AC, MWC and URC.

Value turnover amounted to P8.78 billion. There were 110 advancers that overwhelmed 46 decliners while 59 were unchanged.

On the other hand, AGI and JFC ended lower.

Across the region, trading was upbeat in anticipation of aggressive monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan alongside hopes that US fiscal cliff may be resolved. Investors were increasingly betting that US politicians can strike a deal to avoid drastic spending cuts and tax increases that can drag down the economy into a recession.