PH shares rise over 4% as economies reopen

CONTINUED optimism on the reopening of economies globally propelled the local bourse to breach the 6,500 territory on Thursday.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) rose by 4.35 percent or 271.84 points to end at its intraday high of 6,517.49, while the wider All Shares climbed 3.46 percent to 126.72 points to finish at 3,785.03.

“The local bourse maintained its momentum and [ joined] the rally [in] US markets overnight as optimism remained to be the catalyst of investors to take [their] position in the market amid the reopening of economies,” Philstocks Financial Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.

Those markets — the Dow

Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq — gained 2.05 percent, 1.36 percent and 0.78 percent, respectively.

Alviar also said the noticeable increase in investor participation and net foreign buying hitting P1.37 billion also helped sustain the rally.

“We think investors were pricing in the revenues that companies would generate as they are slowly resuming [operations] and they were also picking up bargain stocks,” she added.

Luis Limlingan, managing director of Regina Capital Development Corp., attributed Thursday’s climb to economic data showing that damage from the pandemic was “less severe” than expected.

This left “major equity benchmarks at their loftiest levels since early March,” he said.

Asian markets were mixed. Tokyo was up 0.36 percent, Seoul climbed by 0.19 percent, Thailand rose by 2.42 percent and Ho Chi Minh gained 0.31 percent. Shanghai slipped by 0.14 percent, Hong Kong shed 0.05 percent, Jakarta lost 0.49 percent and Singapore slid by 0.05 percent.

In Manila, all sectors soared, with financials leading at 5.92 percent.

Total volume turnover was at 2.2 billion shares, valued at P11.5 billion.

Advancers edged out decliners, 132 to 65, while 42 securities were unchanged.

FAYE ALMAZAN