PSEi enters bull market, hits 8,300
Credit to Author: ANGELICA BALLESTEROS, TMT| Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2019 16:14:16 +0000
AFTER a series of slumps last year, the stock market officially entered the bull market territory on Monday as investors took heart from promises of interest-rate cuts and the strong first-half financial performance of Sy-led SM Prime Holdings Inc.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surged by 2.74 percent or 223.47 points to close at 8,365.29.
The figure is a 22.2-percent increase from its lowest close of 6,843.83 on Nov. 13, 2018. It is also the highest in 16 months, or since it hit 8,419.57 on March 13, 2018.
The wider All Shares, meanwhile, climbed by 2.007 percent or 99.26 points to end at 5,043.96.
Philstocks Financial Inc. research associate Japhet Louis Tantiangco attributed the optimism to renewed hopes of more rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated earlier this month that the US central bank would lower borrowing costs as early as this month amid the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing that was weighing on the global economy.
Meanwhile, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno has said the central bank’s policymaking Monetary Board was likely to cut interest rates in the second half of the year before reducing banks’ reserve requirement ratio further.
Tantiangco also pointed to the strong May remittance data released by the Bangko Sentral on Monday, helping both the peso and the stock market, and to the boost from property giant SM Prime after it reported that its net income jumped to P19.30 billion in April to June from P16.62 billion in the same period last year.
“To sustain the bull run, we have to hold ground above the 8,148.70, which is exactly 20 percent above the bear-market low recorded last year,” Tantiangco said.
Regional markets were mixed, as Tokyo rose 0.20 percent, Shanghai grew 0.40 percent, Hong Kong increased 0.29 percent and Jakarta jumped 0.78 percent.
Seoul declined 0.20 percent, Singapore lost 0.25 percent and Bangkok dipped 0.01 percent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones increased by 0.90 percent, the S&P 500 grew 0.46 percent and the Nasdaq rose by 0.59 percent last Friday.
In Manila, all sectoral indices were in the green, with the financials sector up the most by 3.38 percent.
More than 1.59 billion issues were traded valued at P8.5 billion.
Winners led losers, 124 to 62, while 56 issues were unchanged.
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