MANILA, Philippines — Bargain hunters dominated trades yesterday as investors returned to take advantage of cheap stocks.
This sent the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) to gain ground following four straight sessions of heavy losses.
The PSEi rallied by 100.41 points or 1.55 percent to close at 6,576.62 while the broader All Shares index rose by 43.94 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 4,074.94.
However, total value turnover was noticeably thin at P3.7 billion even as market breadth was hugely positive as advancers edged out decliners, 136 to 56, while 52 issues were unchanged.
“The local market snapped its four-day lose streak on bargain hunting. Top movers were SM (up 2.1 percent), BPI (up 3.8 percent) and BDO (up 3.4 percent), accounting for 50 points of the total rally,” AB Capital Securities said in a commentary.
However, foreigners remained net sellers for the 13th straight session with P339 million.
Regina Capital’s Luis Limlingan also linked the market’s rally to the upbeat sentiment in Wall Street as choice stocks reported positive earnings results.
“Investors became bargain hunters as upbeat US earnings from IMB, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson also boosted positivity in the market,” he said.
Bourses in Asia likewise followed Wall Street’s lead as optimism about an economic recovery appeared to outweigh concern over rising coronavirus cases and inflation.