Positive earnings results boost share prices

MANILA, Philippines — The stock market ended a two-day bleeding after a slew of positive corporate earnings results buoyed investor sentiment.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index advanced 0.23 percent or 15.85 points to 6,876.52, while the broader All Shares index grew by 0.24 percent or 8.57 points to settle at 3,591.66.

“The local bourse bounced back as optimism was spurred by the World Bank’s expectation that the Philippines’ inflation will likely stay within two to four percent this year,” Claire Alviar of Philstocks Financial said.

“Strong earnings results from 2023 also provided positive sentiment,” Alviar said.

Local counters were mixed at three apiece. Financials posted the largest gain at 1.25 percent, while industrial suffered the biggest loss of 0.26 percent.

Net market value turnover stood at P4.57 billion.

Market breadth was positive as advancers edged out decliners, 95 to 85, while 57 issues were unchanged.

BDO Unibank posted the highest jump of 2.92 percent among index members.

The country’s largest lender grew its net income by 28.5 percent to hit an all-time high of P73.4 billion in 2023 from P57.1 billion in 2022, driven by strong growth across its core businesses.

On the other hand, Century Pacific Food has the biggest drop of 2.75 percent.

Asian stocks were mostly lower yesterday after the release of lackluster consumer confidence data.

The Conference Board reported a larger-than-expected drop in US shoppers’ confidence in February, as survey participants expressed more concern about the labor market and the American political environment.