Shares up on last-minute buying, lower outflows
SHARES CLIMBED on Tuesday, saved by last-minute buying and minimal foreign outflow compared to previous weeks.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.87% or 60.51 points to 6,987.02, managing to post gains amid muted trading for most of the session. The broader allshares index likewise rose 0.3% or 13.13 points to 4,289.71.
“The market remained mostly subdued the entire day, moving sideways, until finally surging in the last few minutes to end 60.51 points higher at 6,987.02. The lower net foreign selling of only P223 million today (from figures above P700 million the past three days) may have contributed to the day’s gain,” Papa Securities Corp. trader Gabriel Jose F. Perez said in an e-mail on Tuesday.
Net foreign outflows slimmed to P223.54 million on Tuesday from net sales of P738 million recorded on Monday. This marks the 34th straight session of net foreign outflows since Aug. 30.
The main index was trading mostly in the negative at the start of the day, tracking the sell-off seen in international markets as the United States’ row with Saudi Arabia came into focus.
“It was another uneventful trading session where value turnover was only [P5 billion], but the PSEi managed to finish in the green as focus shifted to developments between the US and Saudi Arabia,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.
Tensions between the US and Saudi Arabi persisted as the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi remained unsolved. Market participants are cautious on how this could impact oil prices.
With this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.35% or 89.44 points to 25,250.55. The S&P 500 index slumped 0.59% or 16.34 points to 2,750.79, while the Nasdaq Composite index shed 0.88% or 66.15 points to 7,430.74.
Asian indices meanwhile ended mixed, dragged by negative sentiment on Wall Street.
Back home, all sectoral indices moved to positive territory, led by industrials which jumped 1.47% or 153.23 points to 10,547.31. Property went up 1.09% or 37.98 points to 3,498.91; mining and oil gained 1.03% or 91.40 points to 8,888.05; financials rose 0.9% or 13.90 points to 1,558.70; services added 0.39% or 5.87 points to 1,477.71; while holding firms increased 0.12% or 8.25 points to 6,742.34.
Value turnover inched up to P4.75 billion after some 425.55 million issues switched hands, compared to Monday’s P4.40 billion.
Market breadth favored advancers versus decliners, 100 to 83, while 51 names ended flat.
Papa Securities’ Mr. Perez advised investors to remain on the lookout for US markets, pegging the main index’s support at 6,790 and initial resistance at 7,130.