Stock market climbs back to 8,300 level

THE stock market ended the trading week back in 8,300 territory, moving in line with other bourses in the region as investors cheered news on tax cuts in the United States and other positive developments elsewhere.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 1.27 percent or 104.64 points, closing at 8,311.08, while the wider All Shares added 39.14 points or 0.81 percent to 4,873.82.

Luis Limlingan, head of research and sales at Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC), said regional markets had been boosted by gains on Wall Street.

The Nasdaq notched a new record close after Republicans in the US House of Representatives pushed through legislation to overhaul the US tax code.

Limlingan also pointed to plans by Nor- way’s sovereign wealth fund to sell its oil and gas holdings, increased US industrial output and higher than expected UK retail sales as having buoyed investor optimism.

Back home, he said the local stock market had also been poised to recover after Thursday’s nearly 1 percent fall.

“PSEi underperformed most Asian bourses yesterday despite stellar growth data, so everyone expected to see some bargain hunting ahead of the weekend,” Limlingan said.

All sectoral indices except mining and oil gained on Friday.

More than 7.2 billion shares valued at P5.6 billion were traded.

Advancers outmatched decliners, 9891, while 56 issues remained unchanged.