The stock market pared its gains at the close of trading Tuesday on profit-taking, with investors positioning ahead of the release of fourth-quarter earnings reports and the full 2017 data on the gross domestic product next week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 7.41 points, 0.08 percent, to 8,865.13 on a value turnover of P7.4 billion. The PSEi climbed to an intraday trading high of 8,969.18 before retreating to the day’s low at the close.
Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fastfood chain advanced 5.2 percent to P277.60, while Megaworld Corp., the largest lessor of offices spaces, rallied 2.5 percent to P5.
PLDT Inc., the biggest telecommunications firm, rose 2.4 percent to P1,432, but conglomerate Ayala Corp. fell 3 percent to P1,052.
The rest off Asian markets mostly rose again Tuesday with Hong Kong resuming a rally towards its record high while the dollar struggled to recover from further losses against major peers.
While there were few leads from Wall Street owing to a holiday, investors continued to push into equity markets in Asia to maintain a healthy start to 2018, with Hong Kong skirting its all-time high.
The Hang Seng Index sank on Monday for the first time this year as a record-breaking 14-day surge came to an end on profit-taking.
However, the optimism running through global markets, combined with a flood of cash from mainland Chinese investors, has fired up buying in the financial hub.
In afternoon trade the HSI was up 1.4 percent—putting it less than 200 points short of its October 2007 peak—while Tokyo climbed one percent to a more than 26-year high.
Shanghai added 0.8 percent and Seoul was 0.7 percent up.
Jakarta, Wellington, Taipei and Bangkok also saw strong rallies but Sydney slipped 0.5 percent.
With confidence in the global economy improving and central banks beginning to shift their policy stance away from crisis-era stimulus, the dollar has suffered weeks of selling pressure, with the euro and pound the main winners.
The European single currency surged last week on the back of news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was close to a coalition deal that will end months of uncertainty in the region’s top economy.
And on Monday it almost broke $1.23 for the first time since December 2014 on strong economic data and after a key member of the European Central Bank hinted that it could start cutting back its bond-buying stimulus by September.
And despite uncertainty over Brexit, the pound is also sitting around levels against the dollar last touched in June 2016, when Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, warned the greenback could face further selling.
“With the dollar trading ‘three sheets to the wind’ and ‘wobbling like a drunken sailor,’ there is a stronger chance that panic dollar selling will ensue and hammer the dollar lower,” he said.
The yuan extended Monday’s advance that followed news Germany’s central bank would include the Chinese currency in its own reserves, the latest step toward its internationalization. With AFP