Positive 2018 finish eyed as PSEi recovers
Credit to Author: ANGELICA BALLESTEROS, TMT| Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2018 16:22:25 +0000
THE stock market posted a recovery on Thursday, joining other Asian bourses that mostly rose following an overnight surge on Wall Street and raising hopes for a positive finish to 2018.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) grew by 0.44 percent or 32.65 points to close at 7,482.66 while the broader All Shares gained 0.54 percent or 24.21 points to end at 4,514.13.
“Philippine shares began the window-dressing to end 2018, carried by the performance of US stocks on Wednesday,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.
Wall Street posted its best session in nine years, shaking off four straight routs following strong retail sales data and White House reassurances that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell would not be fired.
The Nasdaq rose by nearly six percent and the Dow and S&P 500 both surged by just under 5 percent.
Tokyo led Asian gains by rising nearly 4 percent and other regional markets followed, with Singapore up 1.4 percent and Jakarta, Bangkok and Seoul also gaining.
Shanghai and Hong Kong fell by 0.61 percent and 0.67 percent, respectively, weighed down by the release of weak economic data.
P2P Trade Online sales associate Gabriel Jose Perez described the PSEi’s 0.44-percent rise, which regained ground lost during the previous day’s 0.40-percent dip, as flat with investors waiting to see if Wall Street would sustain its rally.
“Let’s hope for a positive finish [for 2018] tomorrow (Friday), albeit one that could still be influenced by US markets,” he added.
US stock index futures fell as much as 0.7 percent on Thursday, suggesting investors are unlikely to sustain Wednesday’s rally when US markets open.
In Manila, only the services and property sectors closed in the red.
Volume turnover stood at 1.64 billion shares valued at P5.16 billion.
Winners led losers, 113 to 82, while 40 issues were unchanged.
With a reports from AFP
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