PH stocks up after Hillary’s debate win

THE Philippine market broke its three- day decline on Wednesday after Hillary Clinton’s apparent victory in the first US presidential debate on Tuesday ( Manila time) encouraged bargain hunting in oversold stocks.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index ( PSEi) rose 0.39 percent or 29.62 points to 7,586.96, while the wider All Shares index also ended up 0.48 percent or 21.48 points at 4,517.41.

RCBC Securities Inc. said the local market followed the gains in the US market after Clinton was perceived to have won the presidential debate with rival Donald Trump, which prompted a generally positive response from global markets, including the Philippines.

For both Joylin Telagen of IB Gimenez Securities Inc. and Jonathan Latuja of Unicapital Securities Inc., only bargain hunting in oversold stocks has kept the market from deeper declines in the past three days, which saw the PSEi drop from 7,700 to 7,500 points.

“I think it’s just bargain hunting of selected oversold stocks despite subdued investor participation... Since the index is at support level already ( 7,500- mark), I hope it will be sustained, with possible upward [ bias due to] possible window- dressing on Friday,” Telagen said.

“The market’s just going sideways as investors wait for more economic data abroad. Third- quarter window dressing might provide a temporary rally until Friday,” Latuja said.

Window dressing is a strategy used by fund managers near the end of a year or quarter to improve the appearance of a fund’s performance before presenting it to clients or shareholders.

Except for the industrial sub- index, all other sectoral indices advanced, led by the 231.79- point gain of the mining and oil index.

The top- traded stocks on Wednesday included Security Bank Corp., Universal Robina Corp., and Metro Pacific Investment Corp. which suffered losses, while the gainers were BDO Unibank Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, GT Capital Holdings Inc., SM Prime Holdings Inc., Megawide Construction Corp., Ayala Corp., and Nickel Asia Corp.

Trading volume on Wednesday reached 1.44 billion shares worth P6.39 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners 116 to 64, while 50 issues were unchanged.

On Tuesday, the benchmark index slipped 0.98 percent or 75.12 points to 7,557.34, while the broader All Shares index fell 0.90 percent or 40.67 points to 4,495.93.