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Friday, March 29, 2024

Market rises; FNI tops gainers

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Stocks rose for a third day, tracking the movement of Asian markets after rosy US jobs numbers offered an upbeat assessment of the world’s biggest economy.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, fell 59 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 7,992.27 Monday.  The bellwether was also up 16.8 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also went down 18 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 4,753.36, on a value turnover of P4.9 billion.

Losers outnumbered gainers, 99 to 88, while 59 issues were unchanged.

Fifteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by miner Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. which jumped 6.9 percent to P2.62 and convenience store operator Philippine Seven Corp. which advanced 3.6 percent to P175.

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Meanwhile, most Asian stocks traded higher on positive data from the US.  The world’s largest economy  continued robust job creation in July, with the unemployment rate falling back to a 16-year low amid strong hiring in restaurants and health care, government data showed Friday.

The healthy jobs report was a dose of welcome news for an embattled White House facing a stalled policy agenda and historically low public approval ratings.

“US companies continue to have [a] strong appetite for hiring as the economy and corporate earnings recover,” Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Nomura Holdings, told Bloomberg News.

Asian equities returned to the highest in almost 10 years.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.52 percent, or 103.56 points, to end Monday’s session at 20,055.89, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 0.48 percent, or 7.82 points, to close at 1,639.27.

Benchmarks in Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong also gained, following fresh highs on the Dow Jones Industrial Average when the greenback climbed on better-than-forecast hiring data and a pick up in wage growth in July. 

Iron ore futures in Singapore surged as steel prices also advanced. Oil held above $49 a barrel ahead of OPEC talks on complying with cuts to reduce global supply.

Broad-based hiring in July along with stronger household incomes and buoyant consumer confidence may give the Federal Reserve reason to raise interest rates later this year as it seeks to normalize monetary policy. Non-farm payrolls rose 209,000, against expectations for 180,000. The dollar’s bounce propelled it higher from the lowest since 2015 as investors sought faster growth in economies outside the U.S.

China expressed confidence that new United Nations sanctions would help bring North Korea to the negotiating table to end its push for nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Vice President Mike Pence disputed a report Saturday suggesting that he may be among Republicans preparing for run for president in 2020 if Donald Trump doesn’t seek a second term, calling it “laughable and absurd.”

China’s foreign reserves probably expanded to $3.075 trillion in July. Japan’s leading and coincident indexes for June are due. Later in the week we get Chinese and Japanese trade data, South Korean unemployment and Australian reports on business and consumer sentiment, as well as a slew of European factory output indicators, including German industrial production for June on Monday. 

In the US, inflation data is due later in the week. The market will also be parsing speeches from US policy makers, including Neel Kashkari, the Minneapolis Fed president, and Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis President James Bullard. With Bloomberg, AFP

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