Shares climb on hopes of positive US-China talks
LOCAL EQUITIES rose on Monday on the back of rosy prospects for the trade talks between the United States and China happening this week.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 0.02% or 1.69 points to close at 7,910.58 yesterday, although failing to sustain early morning gains that saw the main index close in on the 8,000 mark. The broader all-shares index likewise went up 0.37% or 18.28 points to 4,841.60.
“Trade optimism and a relatively quiet session ahead of the President’s Day Holiday boosted the market today in the Philippines,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message on Monday.
Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald J. Trump said progress has been made on their trade negotiations last week. Beijing and White House officials are set to meet this week for another round of talks.
AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. President William Matthew M. Cabangon also noted that Mr. Trump’s comments about progress on the US-China trade talks over the weekend helped boost sentiment.
“Market has clearly brushed off last Friday’s selloff with today’s strong performance. With the PSEi rebalancing out of the way, investors saw great bargain opportunities across the index, with foreign investors net-buying more than P500 million,” Mr. Cabangon said in a text message on Monday.
Foreign investors registered a net buying position of P549 million, versus the previous session’s net selling figure of P490 million.
Sectoral indices were equally split between gainers and losers. Leading the advancers was the services counter as it gained 0.66% or 10.40 points to 1,578.94. Holding firms went up 0.48% or 37.85 points to 7,939.78, while financials added 0.08% or 1.45 points to 1,787.84.
In contrast, property dropped 0.77% or 30.97 points to 4,005.73. Mining and oil slumped 0.41% or 34.60 points to 8,458.31, while industrials slipped 0.26% or 30.18 points to 11,427.11.
Turnover slipped to P11.07 billion after some 1.39 billion issues switched hands, lower than Friday’s P16.39 billion. Decliners swamped advancers, 114 to 97, while 39 names were unchanged.
San Miguel Corp. and JG Summit Holdings, Inc. were among the day’s top gainers after they were added to the large-cap index of the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index.
“No Philippine companies were removed from the FTSE’s large cap index, strengthening AAA’s view that the local market is poised for a strong year as foreign funds display higher investment conviction in the Philippines,” Mr. Cabangon said.
Meanwhile, Wall Street indices ended in positive territory on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 1.74% or 443.86 points to 25,883.25. The S&P 500 index jumped 1.09% or 29.87 points to 2,775.60, while the Nasdaq Composite index went up 0.61% or 45.46 points to 7,472.41.