Index mirrors regional recovery

MANILA, Philippines - The stock market recovered yesterday as it hitched a ride on the recovery of its peers in the region.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 85.49 points, or 1.18 percent, to finish at 7,331.46 while the broader All Shares index rose 41.21 points, or 0.94 percent, to settle at 4,411.21.

The rest of the counters also reflected a buoyant market yesterday with the holding firms and financials indices reflecting the biggest gains at 1.69 percent and 1.57 percent, respectively.

Total value turnover, however, reached only P6.62 billion as advancing stocks outnumbered decliners, 100 to 80 while 48 issues were left unchanged.

Traders said the local market took the cue from Asian stocks which advanced yesterday after Wall Street stabilized and the dollar was steady.

US stocks recovered as earlier concerns over US President Donald Trump’s setback on healthcare reform have eased following renewed hopes for the US president’s planned stimulus policies.

For instance, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.5 percent while Australian stocks ended the day 1.3 percent higher.

Japan’s Nikkei, meanwhile, gained 1.1 percent while South Korean stocks also edged 0.4 percent after data showed that the domestic economy grew at a slightly faster pace than initially thought in the fourth quarter of last year.