GCQ NEWS PUSHES PSEI TO 5,800 LEVEL

THE stock market surged to the 5,800 territory on Friday after the government announced that the lockdown it imposed on Metro Manila would be eased after this month ends.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange (PSEi) soared by 4.82 percent or 268.62 points to finish at its intraday high of 5,838.84, while the broader All Shares climbed 3.26 percent or 109.04 points to 3,457.70.

“The local market surged by 4.82 percent after the government eased lockdown measures by placing Metro Manila under general community quarantine (GCQ) effective June 1,” Philstocks Financial Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.

During a Palace briefing televised on Thursday night, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that the country’s capital would transition from modified enhanced community quarantine to GCQ for the first two weeks of June.

Alviar also attributed the boost to strong net foreign buying, which she said was the highest amount recorded in three months.

Net foreign buying hit P955.39 million on Friday.

“Investors, local and foreign, [bargain-hunted for] stocks that were sold off during the ECQ, as they hope for the reopening of the economy. Most businesses are allowed to open, and are anticipated to generate revenues again. We can see traders’ participation by having big value flows [that amounted] to P20.39 billion,” she said.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said the rally was on the back of investors’ optimism about the outlook of the local economy as it transitions to GCQ.

The “last-minute window dressing and MSCI rebalancing” prompted the index to close above 5,800, he added.

Wall Street stumbled, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq shedding 0.58 percent, 0.21 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively.

Most Asian markets ended in the green. Shanghai climbed by 0.22 percent, Seoul was up by 0.05 percent, Jakarta improved by 0.79 percent, Bangkok inched up by 0.01 percent and Vietnam gained 0.36 percent. Tokyo slipped by 0.18 percent, Hong Kong was down by 0.74 percent and Singapore lost 0.02 percent.

In Manila, most sectors rallied, with holding firms gaining the most at 6.26 percent. Mining and oil declined by 1.24 percent.

Total volume turnover was at 1.97 billion shares, valued at P20.39 billion.

Winners edged out losers, 95 to 81, while 40 securities were unchanged.