Bourse coasts with no surprises in Duterte speech

STOCKS climbed back above the 7,400 mark on Tuesday as investors digested President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) the day before.

The 30- company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) increased by 70.22 points or 0.95% to end 7,447.02, while the broader all- shares index added 31.91 points or 0.71% to close 4,505.23.

“Price action looked rather hesitant… early in the morning as the market consolidated post-SONA comments, but later managed to churn out modest gains,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message.

In his annual speech to the joint session of Congress on Monday, Mr. Duterte warned of a continued war on drugs and corruption and asked lawmakers to ratify a law that would give Moros greater autonomy in a wider area, as well as approve the remaining three to four tax reform packages, among other reforms. Monday also witnessed the dislodging of Rep. Pantaleon D. Alvarez of Davao Del Norte’s first district from the speakership by former president Pampanga Rep. Gloria M. Arroyo (second district), an economist — a development generally welcomed by business leaders.

Papa Securities Corp. trader Gabriel Jose F. Perez said the president’s SONA may have eased hesitation felt by investors last week, hence, propelling the main index.

Reuters reported that financial stocks fueled the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index to gain 5.15 points or 0.18% to 2,806.98 and 21.67 points or 0.28% to 7,841.87, respectively, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 13.83 points or 0.06% to 25,044.29. Major Asian markets — in Japan, China and Hong Kong — were generally positive.

Back home, financials were the lone sub-index that fell — by 5.13 points or 0.27% to 1,831.18.

The other five sectoral indices gained at the ringing of the closing bell: mining and oil by 2.22% or 217.08 points to 9,959.82, holding firms by 1.73% or 123.86 points to 7,275.78, services by 1.01% or 14.62 points to 1,456.19, property by 0.94% or 34.34 points to 3,666.22 and industrials by 0.11% or 11.76 points to 10,650.42.

Some 2.65 billion shares worth P4.43 billion changed hands, compared to 657.02 million worth P5.08 billion on Monday. Stocks that advanced outnumbered those that declined, 107 to 92, while 43 names were unchanged.

Foreigners recorded net sales of P47.96 million, a reversal of Monday’s P195.99- million net buying.

Fourteen of Tuesday’s 20 most active stocks ended in positive territory, led by a 5.15% increase in stocks of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. to P10 apiece.

Also among those that gained the most were Semirara Mining and Power Corp. ( up 4.92% to P33.05); Globe Telecom, Inc. (up 3.39% to P1,799) and SM Investments Corp. ( up 3.05% to P912 apiece).