Market euphoria takes index higher

MANILA, Philippines — The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index breached the 8,400 mark during the morning session yesterday, but it eventually wiped out earlier gains to close at 8,310.88.

The index, however, was still higher by 16.87 points or 0.20 percent from Thursday’s closing level.

The broader All Shares index, likewise, gained 4.79 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 4,889.44.

Total value turnover went past the P7 billion level, reaching P7.37 billion. Advancing stocks, meanwhile, outnumbered decliners, 99 to 96 while 49 issues were left unchanged.

Commenting on yesterday’s session, Astro del Castillo of First Grade Finance Inc. said the prevailing euphoria continues to push share prices up.

The euphoria in Wall Street and optimism in the global economy continue to push our local market in record territory. Loud cheers can still be heard on the trading floor. Investors completely ignored the political noise and reports of higher inflation, he said.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the consumer price index continued to accelerate in September, rising to a five-month high of 3.4 percent from 3.1 percent in August and 2.3 percent in the same period last year due to faster increases in food prices.

Del Castillo, however, said “It seems like the legs of our bulls in PSEi are getting weaker given the soft landing of our trading today and value turnover remains low.”

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose yesterday and the dollar hit a seven-week peak, riding on economic optimism ahead of a US job report later in the day