Stocks rose for a third day, pushing up the benchmark index near the 8,000-point mark, in line with the movement of Asian markets which rose to the highest level in almost 10 years.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, rose 19 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 7,972.90 Wednesday, as four of the six major sectors advanced.
The heavier index representing all shares also climbed 20 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 4,775.96, on a value turnover of P7.9 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 116 to 80, while 59 issues were unchanged.
Fourteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Wilcon Depot Inc. which gained 5.1 percent to P8.71 and DMCI Holdings Inc. which climbed 3.2 percent to P15.72. SM Prime Holdings Inc. rose 1.6 percent to P34.50.
Meanwhile, most Asian markets also rose. For every five stocks that climbed, three fell. Financial shares led gains, rising for the seventh session in eight.
“The inability for the Republican party to legislate is putting downward pressure on the USD,” said James Soutter, a fund manager at K2 Asset Management in Melbourne.
“Lower USD tends to be positive for Asian-linked currency economies. Until we get any reform or repeal of Obamacare, the U.S. will not put through changes to taxation policy,” said Soutter.
Australian stocks rebounded after a two-day slump, with banks leading the rally, as the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority said the nation’s top four banks will have to increase tier-1 capital ratios by about 100 basis points.
The next clues for investors will come from meetings of central banks in Japan and Europe this week and earnings reports due Wednesday at companies including Morgan Stanley and Qualcomm Inc.
With inflation stuck below the Federal Reserve’s two percent target and prospects fading of any economic reforms, traders are questioning whether the Fed will raise interest rates for a third time this year. Just months ago there had been bets on four increases.
“The market has been waiting for the Trump failure cascade to begin and yesterday’s health care headlines once again bring into question the administration’s ability to enact on their key legislative promises, leaving investors in limbo and the dollar sagging,” Stephen Innes, a senior trader at Oanda, said in a commentary.
The greenback was marginally up against its major peers but remained stuck at multi-month lows, with the euro enjoying support from expectations the European Central Bank will soon begin to reduce stimulus.
The bank will hold its next policy meeting Thursday and boss Mario Draghi’s statement will be pored over for clues about its timetable as the eurozone economy continues to improve.
Other, higher-yielding, currencies are also faring well with the Australian dollar pushing towards 80 US cents for the first time since early 2015, while the Mexican peso is also at more than one-year highs.
The peso had been hammered to record lows immediately after Trump’s election on fears about his threats to tear up trade deals and repatriate thousands of Mexicans.
In share trading Hong Kong climbed 0.5 percent to a a fresh-two year high in the afternoon as mainland Chinese traders head south on worries about a government crackdown on risk-taking in financial markets.
“If China’s market is under tighter regulation that means there’s relatively limited opportunity at least in the near term, so they would prefer to go to another market,” said Ben Kwong, executive director at KGI Asia in Hong Kong. With AFP, Bloomberg