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Friday, March 29, 2024

Stocks rally; banks lead gainers

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The stock market surged Monday on bargain-hunting, with banking issues leading the rally on prospects of increased lending activities after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reduced last week the reserve requirement ratio.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 97.78 points, or 1.1 percent, to 8,710.22 on a value turnover of P9.7 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 141 to 65, with 44 issues unchanged.

BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, rose 3.8 percent to P156, while Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-largest, advanced 3.2 percent to P99.90. Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third biggest lender, advanced 3.7 percent to P124.40.

PXP Energy Corp. surged 17.5 percent to P14.48 after the government reported that China and the Philippines were discussing joint mineral exploration in the South China Sea despite an ongoing territorial conflict over the strategic waterway.

MacroAsia Corp., which provides aviation-related services, jumped 10 percent to P28.60.

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The rest of Asian stock markets, meanwhile, mostly edged up in thin holiday trade on Monday, with Tokyo’s benchmark index surging nearly two percent as investors regained some confidence.

A weaker yen and continued gains on Wall Street last week helped push the bellwether Nikkei 225 index up 1.97 percent or 428.96 points to close at 22,149.21.

The broader Topix index was up 2.17 percent or 37.78 points at 1,775.15.

Stocks in Sydney and Seoul also ended higher, but trading was generally subdued in the region as many major markets, including in China and Hong Kong, remain closed for the Lunar New Year break.

“Japanese stocks this week will likely test a rebound” from sharp drops earlier in the month, Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

“Given falling volatility both in Japan and in the United States, we can expect a calm market,” it said.

In the markets that were open in Asia on Monday, the Australian ASX closed up 0.64 percent while New Zealand closed down 0.12 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI was up 0.87 percent.

The dollar, which fell below 106 to hit the lowest since November 2016 against the yen on Friday, rebounded to 106.53, compared with 106.25 in New York late Friday.

“Investors were relieved to see the yen stop rising,” said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.

“They will remain cautious about foreign exchange rates for the time being” as the dollar was still hovering around the 106 yen level, Horiuchi told AFP.

Market sentiment was also boosted by a relatively positive end to the week in the US and Europe.

The Dow squeezed out a positive close, up 0.1 percent to 25,219.38 before a long weekend, the sixth straight positive close for the blue-chip index as it notched up its best weekly gain since November 2016.

European stocks were also broadly higher, with analysts saying trader optimism was rising, encouraging investors to jump back in after a dizzying price drops. With AFP

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