PSEi bounces back as Dow recovers

The local stock market recovered yesterday after a two-day bloodbath as Wall Street rebounded from its worst beating in six years.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index rallied 117.14 points, or 1.37 percent, to finish at 8,667.56.

The strong showing was also mirrored by the broader All Shares index, which gained 58.17 points to settle at 5,086.08.

“The PSEi regained composure with US equity markets bouncing back on Tuesday. Markets are also looking for some comfort with some FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) speakers later,” Regina Capital Development Corp. business development head Luis Limlingan said.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.3 percent to close at 24.912.77, recovering half of the losses the previous day, while the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite increased 1.7 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

“There is growing anticipation that our own BSP will hike rates earlier as the CPI (consumer price index) reached the upper limit of their range. The effects of TRAIN have manifested as many have begun to feel the pinch, headline CPI came in at four percent, while core CPI followed closely at 3.9 percent. Should the next month see no signs of cooling off, we inclined to expect the BSP to begin hiking rates in March, not even ruling out the possibility of one this Thursday,” Limlingan said.