The stock market jumped Friday on bargain hunting and on reports China and the US had reached a trade agreement.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index surged 136.56 points, or 1.8 percent, to 7,877.63 on a value turnover of nearly P7.5 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 123 to 61, with 55 issues unchanged.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. advanced 11.9 percent to P3.01 while DMCI Holdings Inc. climbed 9.9 percent to P5.55 as investors took the opportunity to buy back the stocks after suffering a heavy beating in the past few days.
Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. rose 4.2 percent to P46.90, while International Container Terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator, rallied 3.8 percent to P126.
Christmas came early to the rest of the Asian markets Friday as equities and the pound surged on reports exit polls predicted a landslide election win for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that will allow him to push through Brexit.
Tokyo soared 2.6 percent, Hong Kong piled on more than two percent, Shanghai clocked up 1.8 percent, Seoul surged 1.5 percent and Sydney rose 0.5 percent. There were also big gains in Mumbai, Singapore, Taipei and Jakarta.
The soothing of tensions and removal of some uncertainty helped higher-yielding, riskier currencies rally.
The Chinese yuan jumped one percent against the dollar, while the South Korean won and South African rand were both 1.5 percent higher.
Australia’s dollar, the Indonesian rupiah, Mexican peso and Russian ruble also saw big advances as investors grew in confidence.
Investors flocked back into stocks around the world on news that Donald Trump had signed off on a long-awaited pact between the world’s economic superpowers that will see the cancellation of fresh US tariffs due at the weekend and the rolling back of previous measures.
After months of high-level talks, negotiators presented the president with a deal that will see China ramp up its purchases of agricultural goods, Bloomberg News reported.
The mood was already buoyant after Trump said an agreement was close on the first part of a wider pact.
“Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!” Trump tweeted earlier in the day, which helped fuel a rally on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new records.
While the pact has yet to be finalized, the news will come as a massive relief to investors after weeks of toing and froing, with the two sides offering sometimes positive, sometimes downbeat comments on the talks’ progress.
Trade tensions between the world’s biggest economies have been a huge drag on global growth, with most countries being sucked into the stand-off, sending some into or close to recession.
“Does it mean we get a comprehensive deal in 2020? Hard to say, but it this has created the necessary Christmas cheer for a decent Santa Rally,” said Neil Wilson at Markets.com.
The trade headlines came just as a closely watched exit poll forecast Johnson’s ruling Conservative party would win a huge 86-seat majority in a crucial general election. With AFP