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EQUITIES continued to improve on Monday as Wall Street rallied, economic worries eased and China eased mobility restrictions.
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSEi) benchmark index rose 96.18 points, or 1.43%, to close at 6,822.32 on Monday, while the broader all-shares index rose 36.94 points, or 1.02%, to 3,633 .07 rose.
“Local stocks opened the week on an upbeat note as share prices rose for the fourth straight day. The local stock market rallied, aligning with the ongoing Wall Street rally,” Manny P. Cruz, equity strategist at Papa Securities Corp., said in a Viber message.
“The local stock market is higher this Monday as global economic worries ease. The market was guided by Wall Street’s upbeat performance last Friday, helped by the US core consumer spending index slowing to 4.9% in April from 5.2% in March,” said Japhet Louis O Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial, Inc in a Viber message.
Although Wall Street will be closed on Memorial Day, US futures traded. S&P 500 e-minis rose 0.9% after rising 6.6% last week in their best run so far this year, while Nasdaq e-minis gained another 1.3%, reported Reuters.
With the Dow Jones ending its longest weekly losing streak in nearly a century and posting its best week since 2020 on Friday, the narrative in stock markets has quickly shifted from fears of a collapse to hopes of a recovery.
Mr Tantiangco added that investors also cheered the easing of restrictions in China.
“It was a positive mood [impacted] from major Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai beginning to ease pandemic measures as the number of local cases has dropped significantly. Major malls in Beijing have announced they have already reopened over the past weekend,” said Mr. Cruz of Papa Securities.
Authorities in China’s trade hub Shanghai will lift many conditions for businesses to resume work from Wednesday to ease a city-wide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown, Reuters reported.
Domestically, most industry indices ended in the green on Monday except for services, which fell 0.91 points, or 0.04%, to 1,906.21.
Meanwhile, holding companies rose 154.26 points, or 2.50%, to 6,306.99; Mining & Oil was up 243.49 points, or 2.08%, to 11,897.99; Financials rose 31.40 points, or 1.95%, to 1,638.33; real estate gained 32.91 points, or 1.07%, to close at 3,093.52; and Industrials ended up 17.17 points, or 0.18%, at 9,452.46.
There were more promoted than relegated, 114 versus 76, while 51 names ended unchanged.
Value turnover rose to 7 billion pesos with 890.17 million shares changing hands from 5.96 billion pesos with 917.39 million issues seen on Friday.
Net foreign purchases fell to P69.01 million on Monday from P160.15 million the previous trading day. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson With Reuters
