PSEi climbs to 7,500 on positive trade news

THE stock market returned to the 7,500 level on Thursday with sentiment said to have been boosted by positive US- China trade news and expectations that monetary authorities would pause from hiking rates.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index ( PSEi) added 0.46 percent or 34.68 points to close at 7,522.92 while the wider All Shares grew by 0.28 percent or 12.78 points to finish at 4,507.33.

“Local shares resumed their upward ascent as trade tensions showed signs of improvement,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.

This was echoed by Arbee Lu, head of online trading at P2P Trade Online, who said investors “appear to be taking their cue from abroad with trade war sentiment turning positive over China’s accommodating policy tone.”

On Wednesday, the WallStreet Journal reported that Beijing was looking to soften its protectionist stance and allow more investments by US firms.

Limlingan said market players also made bets ahead of the outcome of the Monetary Board’s last policy meeting for the year, results of which were announced after the market’s close.

“Our view is that headline inflation has peaked and should continue to decelerate due to favorable base effects, legislated measures that aim to resolve food supply shortage issues, the suspension of fuel tax hikes and lower global energy prices,” he said.

Policymakers on Thursday decided to keep policy rates unchanged after inflation decelerated to 6.0 percent in November from a peak of 6.7 percent.

Most sectoral results closed in the green except for mining and oil and property, which fell by 0.87 percent and 0.38 percent, respectively.

Volume turnover stood at 2.69 billion issues valued at P6.06 billion.

Winners led losers, 109 to 80, while 46 issues were unchanged.