Index ends year in green as 2021 budget signed

MANILA, Philippines — Local share prices capped off a challenging year on a positive note, driven by the signing of a record-high national budget for 2021.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index or PSEi closed the last trading day of 2020 with a 0.24-percent or 17.46-point gain at 7,139.71, while the broader All Shares index posted a 0.43-percent or 18.34-point increase to 4,272.61.

It was the PSEi’s first gain since Dec.16.

Year-on-year, however, the main index fell over eight percent from 7,815.26 on Dec. 27, 2019 as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy.

President Duterte on Monday signed the P4.5-trillion national budget for next year, helping buoy investor sentiment before the market goes for another long break. The budget included sizeable allocations for the purchase, storage and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

The P4.5-trillion peso budget came as what was formerly one of Asia’s fastest expanding economies struggles to get back to growth and contain infections.

On Monday, partial curbs in Manila were extended until the end of January as the country with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases and casualties in Southeast Asia looks to guard itself against the spread of a new coronavirus variant.

“Philippine shares ended the year on a positive note with some window dressing along with news that the President of the United States signed a fiscal relief bill over the weekend. President Trump approved a COVID relief package worth roughly $900 billion,” Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said.