Stocks rally to two-year high

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices rallied yesterday, hitting a two-year high as the market got a huge boost from a string of positive developments here and abroad, analysts said.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surged 120.34 points to settle at 7,962.33 while the broader All Shares index gained 57.85 points or 1.23 percent to end at 4,731.25, tracking the uptrend in the regional market after Emmanuel Macron, a centrist would-be reformer and supporter of the European Union, won the French presidential election.

Yesterday’s PSEi level was the highest since April 10, 2015 when the index reached an all time high of 8,127.48.

Value turnover reached P9.44 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners, 116 to 81 while 42 issues were left unchanged.

Justino Calaycay of Philstocks Financials said “it was an impressive, encouraging and auspicious start to the weeks’ trades. Nearly everything out of the news cycle elicited a positive response from investors.”

Investors also welcomed the manageable inflation environment as well as the rosy prospects on the country’s economic growth last year.

Elsewhere in the region, Asian stocks were equally in a cheerful mood with only the mainland China markets losing ground by at least 1 percent.