PSEi rebounds as economic growth picks up in Q3

LOCAL SHARES recovered on Thursday as investors turned bullish following improved gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 47.93 points or 0.59% to close at 8,073.81 on Thursday, while the broader all-shares index gained 18.41 points or 0.38% to 4,822.77.

“Investors bought up towards closing after better than expected GDP and after seeing highs in recent days,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday that the economy grew 6.2% in the third quarter — higher than the 6% median estimate by economists surveyed by BusinessWorld last week.

This is an improvement from the 5.5% GDP growth logged in the second quarter and 5.6% in the first quarter. The PSA attributed the third-quarter performance to the stronger push in the construction sector during the period.

Despite the PSEi’s rise, AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun said investors still ignore economic fundamentals in trading decisions.

“We saw Q3 GDP come in at 6.2% above the consensus. This had no effect on the local bourse. We saw a slight bounce today after the massive drop that we saw yesterday. We may not see this index go any higher before the week ends but it must end the week above the 8,000 key-level to be able to sustain the current rally,” he said in an e-mail on Thursday.

Foreign markets were mixed yesterday. Over at Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat; the S&P 500 grew 0.07%; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.29% at the end of trading on Wednesday.

Asian markets were mostly upbeat. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix indices rose 0.11% and 0.22%, respectively; Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 grew 1.00%; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index improved 0.57%; and South Korea’s KOSPI index inched up 0.01%.

Back home, two sectoral indices declined. Industrials lost 97.69 points or 0.93% to end at 10,405.45 and mining and oil went down 17.71 points or 0.19% to 9,117.

Meanwhile, property added 52.65 points or 1.27% to 4,171.85; holding firms picked up 63.90 points or 0.8% to 7,986.04; financials gained 6.99 points or 0.36% to 1,942.75; and services increased 0.6 point or 0.03% to 1,547.76.

Value turnover slumped to P5.12 billion from P5.89 billion on Wednesday, with 474.53 million issues changing hands.

Advancers outpaced decliners, 93 against 81, while 61 names were unchanged.

Foreign investors continued to sell their holdings, with net sales recorded at P161.76 million on Thursday, albeit lower than Wednesday’s P975.031-million net outflow.