PH shares get boost from Wall St gains

Positive sentiment from Wall Street’s latest rally and renewed bargain hunting pushed the stock market past the 6,800 level on Wednesday.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) improved by 0.61 percent or 41.49 points to close at its intraday high of 6,808.32, while the broader All Shares inched up by 0.08 percent or 3.4 points to end at 4,078.35.

Philstocks Financial Inc. research associate Claire Alviar attributed Wednesday’s advance to investors again looking for bargains and encouraging cues from US markets’ performance.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.10 percent, 1.42 percent and 3.69 percent, respectively.

Alviar said these indexes climbed as US bond yields declined and President Joe Biden’s $1.9-trillion fiscal stimulus plan improved sentiment.

“[The] PSEi also rebounded from its 200-day EMA (exponential moving average) dynamic support,” she added, but noted that worries over the resurgence in Covid-19 cases in the country still lingered as the bourse traded both in the green and red throughout the day.

The main index opened at 6,752.90 and fell to its intraday low of 6,727.10 before breaching the 6,800 territory.

As of Wednesday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped by 2,886 to 603,308, of which 44,470 are active, the latest Department of Health (DoH) tally showed. Of the total, 546,293 have recovered and 12,545 did not.

Meanwhile, AAA Equities Head of Research Christopher Mangun said buyers picked up the shares battered at the start of the week.

Sentiment slightly improved as panic selling subsided after new Covid-19 cases fell below 3,000 on Tuesday, according to him.

The number of daily cases reached 2,668 on Tuesday after registering more than 3,000 for four straight days.

“The PSEi has held support at the 6,600 to 6,700 area. However, the current bounce is attributed to bargain hunting, which means we may not see it get very far,” Mangun said.

Most indices of local sectors closed in the green, with holding firms leading gainers at 1.38 percent. Financials and mining and oil declined by 1.06 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively.

Total volume turnover was at 9.14 billion shares, valued at P11.07 billion.

Decliners outpaced advancers, 155 to 72, while 34 securities were unchanged.