Wall Street climbs further into uncharted territory
Wall Street pushed further into record-high territory on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 notching a seven-session winning streak, helped by robust economic data and ongoing optimism that President Donald J. Trump will cut corporate taxes. Bigger-than-expected rises in retail sales and consumer prices in January reinforced confidence that the economy is growing at a solid pace following the strongest quarterly corporate earnings growth in over two years.
LOCAL STOCKS on Thursday recovered some lost ground after two successive days in the red, taking the cue from Wall Street’s and Asian markets’ gains.
Bargain-hunting and encouraging remittances data also helped lift Philippine shares, analysts said.
“I think it’s more of bargainhunting,” said Miguel A. Agarao, vice- president of Philequity Management, Inc.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) jumped by 1.51% or 108.95 points to finish at 7,283.25, while the broader all shares index rose by 1.04% or 45.54 points to 4,401.79.
All the sectoral indices closed higher led by financial stocks, which rose by 1.68% or 29.67 points to 1,793.46.
The other counters that gained by more than 1% are holding firms, services and property. Advancers outnumbered decliners at 113 to 75, while 48 finished unchanged.
“So far, [there were] no local problems and the global [market] is steady,” said Harry G. Liu, president of Summit Securities, Inc.
Mr. Liu said the market’s performance, a reversal of the decline in the past two days, was technically driven. He also cited the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 107.45 points, or 0.52%, to finish at a record 20,611.86.
“Market resumed bargainhunting after a couple of days of losses as US stocks went up again, with [ the Federal Reserve Chairman Janet] Yellen saying that market participants are likely anticipating shifts in fiscal policy that will stimulate growth and perhaps raise earnings,” said Luis A. Limlingan, business development head at Regina Capital Development Corp.
The S& P 500 index closed higher by 11.67 points, or 0.50%, to a record 2,349.25. “Again, banking stocks in general are still contributing big time,” Mr. Limlingan said.
Asian equities rose, led by gains in Hong Kong, as investors look to Asia’s bestperforming developed market this year amid earnings optimism and signs of an improving economy.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.40% to 145.11 as of 4:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, led by health care, finance and information technology stocks. Chinese banks listed in Hong Kong extended their gains after data showing record levels of new credit this week boosted confidence in the Chinese economy. Japan’s Topix fell as the yen rose against the dollar.
“Locally, personal remittances rose 3.6% to $2.82 billion, a new high in December... considering that November remittances registered a sharp decline by 18.4% year on year, December remittances recorded a rather good inflow,” Mr. Limlingan said.
Value turnover yesterday eased to P7.59 billion from P7.96 billion the other day. In contrast to previous days of consistent net selling, foreign funds bought more shares than they sold, resulting in a net buying of P505.79 million. The previous session saw trade at a negative P464.82 million.