Wall St gains buoy local stocks

The stock market ended on a strong note yesterday, with the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index closing higher by 66.16 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 7,583.52, while the broader All Shares index gained 21.29 points or 0.46 percent to end at 4,606.69.

The sectoral indices, meanwhile, were mostly positive except for the mining and oil index, which ended in the negative territory.

Total value turnover was P5.542 billion. Market breadth was negative, 98 to 91 in favor of decliners. Only 58 issues were left unchanged.

Abacus Capital said that while the PSEi ended the turbulent week on a high note, the next few weeks may be quiet given the lack of catalysts.

On the other hand, Abacus Capital said the good thing is that “all the bad news are out already.”

Gio Perez, a trader at Papa Securities, said “the PSEi traded in the green along with most of the other regional bourses after being buoyed by positivity from US markets last night.”

The Dow has gained as much as 400 points on news that the US and China are set to resume trade talks this month.

However, net foreign selling likewise accelerated to P900 million from P884 million during yesterday’s session.

“We’ll need to remain vigilant over the weekend for developing news abroad as these have driven much of the market’s movement the past week. Recall how emerging markets fell earlier in the week due to the currency crisis in Turkey,” Perez said.