Shares rebound on Wall Street gains

THE stock market snapped a three- day losing streak on Monday with investor sentiment said to have been lifted by gains on Wall Street.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index ( PSEi) rose 0.97 percent or 80.99 points to end at 8,453.50. The broader All Shares grew 0.62 percent or 31.19 points to close at 5,083.98.

“Philippine markets kicked off the first trading [ day] of the week in the green carrying the positive sentiment of the employment figures in the US,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said.

Non- farm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 313,000 in February, the largest monthly gain since July 2016. The news drove US stocks up on Friday with the Nasdaq closing at a record high.

“Basically, the market … has been going through a mediumterm consolidation,” Summit Securities, Inc. President Harry Liu noted, adding that further gains in the US could spur growth.

Local shares could follow suit if the Dow Jones Industrial Average — which closed at 25,335.74 last Friday — breaks 26,000.

“But as of now, [ the US market] is also going through a sideways [ movement],” he said.

Locally, Liu said shares advanced as investors had already factored in the possibility of interest rate hikes.

The United States’ Federal Open Market Committee will be holding

a policy meeting from March 20-21 while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policymaking Monetary Board will also convene on March 22.

The mining and oil index was the sole decliner on Monday, falling by 0.66 percent.

More than 8.6 billion issues valued at P7.2 billion changed hands.

Losers led winners, 109 to 106, while 44 issues were unchanged.