The stock market rose for the fourth straight day ahead of the release today of the gross domestic product data for the first quarter of the year, which indicate robust growth.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 9.46 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,534.30 on a value turnover of nearly P10 billion. Gainers edged losers, 102 to 101, with 38 issues unchanged.
Alliance Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan gained 2.4 percent to P14.58, while SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. climbed 1.6 percent to P25.10.
Security Bank Corp., the sixth biggest lender in terms of capital, rose 1.1 percent to P193, while Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-largest bank, added 1.1 percent to P94.
Asian stock markets mostly fell Wednesday after a two-day rally and strong US data that fueled talk of an interest rate rise, while Tokyo swung back and forth following a better-than-forecast economic growth reading.
The world’s number three economy expanded 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year, or a 1.7-percent annualized rate, boosted by a pick-up in consumer spending.
The country’s benchmark Nikkei stock index spent much of the day in positive territory. But the upbeat GDP figure was offset by fears it could allow the Bank of Japan to delay any fresh stimulus.
Hong Kong closed down 1.5 percent, while Sydney ended 0.7 percent lower and Shanghai gave up 1.3 percent by the close. Seoul slipped 0.6 percent and Singapore was 0.3 percent off.
In early European trade London and Frankfurt dropped 0.6 percent and Paris shed 0.5 percent.
Stimulus bets “may be drying up a little,” Masahiro Ichikawa, a senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo,told Bloomberg News.
“If the… growth figure was a small increase, we might have seen more hopes for supportive policy, but with the data being better than expected, the view now is the size of the policy package may not be that significant.”
Tokyo shares ended 0.1 percent lower, with profit-taking also a factor after the market rose for six of the previous seven sessions.
The figures come days after local media reported that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to delay a sales tax rise next year over concerns it could damage the already fragile economy. With AFP
