Bargain-hunting buoys PSEi
Credit to Author: Tyrone Jasper C. Piad| Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2020 16:40:02 +0000
Bargain-hunting somehow provided relief to the local bourse on Thursday, but it was not enough to break above the 7,000 level.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 0.84 percent or 58 points to close at 6,967.84, while the wider All Shares gained 0.49 percent or 20.30 points to finish at 4,149.67.
“The market performance is a result of what we think is a technical bounce coming from the market, [which] plummeted [by] more than 6 percent in the past two days,” Philstocks Financial Inc. research analyst Piper Chaucer Tan said.
The recovery of 16 of the 30-member PSEi also triggered bargain-hunting in the market, he added.
“But uncertainties with Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and its impact to the economy quantitatively still hits not just Philippine shares but global indices as well,” Tan warned.
The virus continues to spread around the world, with Brazil reporting Latin America’s first case, with Greece, Georgia, Norway and Pakistan following suit.
About 40 countries have now been affected and the global death toll now stands at about 2,800 with more than 80,000 infected.
Diversified Securities trader Aniceto Pangan, meanwhile, said that earnings reports helped uplift investor sentiment on Thursday.
“The earnings’ release provided catalyst for the market to rebound as the income of the companies show sustained net income growth,” he said.
Wall street was mixed. The Nasdaq rose 0.17 percent, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell by 0.46 percent and 0.38 percent, respectively.
In Asia, Shanghai inched up 0.11 percent, Hong Kong added 0.14 percent, Thailand gained 0.37 percent and Vietnam rose 0.21 percent.
Meanwhile, Tokyo plunged 2.13 percent, Seoul slid 1.05 percent, Jakarta shed 2.54 percent and Singapore declined 0.44 percent.
In Manila, all sectors ended in the green, except for mining and oil that dropped by 0.25 percent.
Volume turnover stood at 682.76 million shares amounting to P8.45 billion.
Decliners led advancers, 95-91, while 45 issues were unchanged. WITH A REPORT FROM AFP