Oil rebound, US aid calm nervous markets

MANILA, Philippines — Asian stock markets, including the Philippines, rose yesterday as the combination of a rebound in crude prices from historic lows and the promise of more US government aid to cushion the coronavirus-ravaged economy helped calm nervous markets.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 25.80 points, or 0.46 percent, to end at 5,599.55.

Likewise, the broader All Shares index rose by 20.64 points, or 0.6 percent, to end at 3,408.81.

“The local bourse joins its neighboring peers in tracking Wall Street amid the rebound in oil prices,” Philstocks said.

Across the globe, markets welcomed the rebound in oil prices. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.25 percent after staying mostly flat during Asian hours, while London’s FTSE futures were mostly unchanged. European stock futures nudged up with the Eurostoxx 50 up 0.3 percent and Germany’s DAX futures rising 0.4 percent. 

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan bounced from two-week lows to be up 0.6 percent at 460.43 points.

Australian S&P/ASX reversed early gains to close 0.1 percent lower, led by losses in the healthcare sector. Chinese shares also gave up gains with the blue-chip index down 0.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1.5 percent.

According to data from the global crude market, the West Texas intermediate crude oil, which sold for less than $0 a barrel earlier in the week, traded around $14 per barrel on Wednesday, reflecting a 22.7 percent increase.

However, traders said developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic would dictate the direction of trading in the coming days.