October inflation good news fuels bourse’s climb

THE MAIN INDEX on Tuesday logged its best finish in more than three months on optimism fueled by an official report showing easing October inflation that met market expectations and more good news on the Sino-US trade front.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 157.03 points or 1.94% to close at 8,216.68 on Tuesday, its best performance since Jul. 25, when it closed at 8,272.18. The all-shares index similarly increased by 55.67 points or 1.15% to end at 4,887.37.

“Philippine shares climbed astronomically, amid continued optimism about a near-term USChina trade resolution and PH inflation hitting below one percent once again for October,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message.

The government on Tuesday morning reported that October headline inflation clocked in at 0.8% — the median of estimates by analysts polled by BusinessWorld late last week — marking the fifth straight month of slowdown and the slowest clip in nearly three-and-a-half years or since April 2016’s 0.7%.

Reuters reported US and China are looking at reducing more tariffs as part of the first phase of a trade deal that is expected to be signed later this month. This is expected to remove US tariffs on about $156 billion worth of Chinese imports. Moreover, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Sunday that licenses for US firms to sell components to blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. would come “very shortly.”

That news fueled Wall Street’s climb, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.42%, 0.37% and 0.56%, respectively on Monday.

Major Asian markets also cheered the trade development, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix indices rising 1.76% and 1.66%, respectively; the Shanghai SE Composite index climbing 0.54%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 0.49%, South Korea’s KOSPI increasing 0.58% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 going up 0.15%.

Tuesday saw only mining and oil among the six Philippine sectoral indices decline — by 166.26 points or 1.78% to 9,162.34.

The rest gained: holding firms by 251.33 points or 3.19% to 8,112.59, property by 53.61 points or 1.27% to 4,274.18, industrials by 24.93 points or 0.23% to 10,623.70, financials by 21.39 points or 1.1% to 1,964.51 and services by 16.83 points or 1.09% to 1,555.

For Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, corporate earnings reports helped lift market sentiment, citing results of the likes of SM Prime Holdings, Inc.

Tuesday closed with 651.15 million shares worth P9.55 billion changing hands, compared to Monday’s 1.15 billion shares worth P6.58 billion. Stocks that declined edged out those that gained, 95 to 94, as 54 others ended flat.

Mr. Tantiangco said via text that if third-quarter gross domestic product data due Nov. 7 “would meet or exceed investors’ expectations, then the market could sustain its current position.” —