SEIZING THE CHANCE TO BUILD BACK BETTER
LOCAL SHARES continued to climb on Thursday on sustained investor bullishness over hopes of an economic rebound in the fourth quarter.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) landed on 6,344.63 at the close of trading, up 66.04 points or 1.05%. The wider all shares index grew 27.90 points or 0.74% to end at 3,788.75.
The PSEi was posting losses during the first hours of trading as investors were securing profits from the three- day climb of the market. The index opened at 6,309.87 and hit a low of 6,241.31 before recovering and ending the session at its peak of 6,344.63.
“The market continued its upward trend on the prospects of an economic recovery from easing restrictions with deeper and wider reopening of the economy,” Diversified Securities, Inc. Equity Trader Aniceto K. Pangan said in a text message.
The government has been relaxing quarantine rules to facilitate economic activity, such as allowing leisure travel and full capacity operations of hotels.
New coronavirus cases have also been declining in recent weeks, with 1,509 new cases reported on Wednesday, totalling 362,243 local cases since the start of the outbreak.
“Given the speed and magnitude of the run-up, there is a high probability of a technical correction occurring in the next few sessions. A retest of the psychological support level of 6,000 is possible. If the market does maintain itself above this, we could see the market continue its rally to cover the gap at 6,700,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said in a text message.
Four sectoral indices ended Thursday’s session higher: property climbed 81.63 points or 2.72% to 3,076.69; industrials rose 125.28 points or 1.50% to 8,477.59; holding firms gained 62.90 points or 0.97% to 6,510.46; and mining and oil added 49.01 points or 0.64% to 7,693.93.
Two closed in red territory: financials slid 10.56 points or 0.83% to 1,257.65 and services fell 6.21 points or 0.42% to 1,463.26 at the end of trading.
“Thursday’s rally still had conviction with net value turnover posting P9.1 billion, above the year-to-date average of P5.9 billion. Foreigners remained net buyers with Thursday’s net inflows amounting to P214.2 million,” Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial, Inc., said in a text message.
Total value turnover on Thursday was P9.81 billion with 1.28 billion issues switching hands, lower than Wednesday’s P10.52 billion with 2 billion issues.
Decliners outnumbered advancers, 112 against 100. Some 43 names were unchanged.
“We may see more profit taking on the last trading day for the week. But nonetheless, it will end as one of the best weeks that the market has had in the last few months,” Christopher John Mangun, research head at AAA Southeast Equities, Inc., said in an e-mail.