The stock market climbed Thursday, taking its cue from Wall Street’s best performance in nine years.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 32.65 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,482.66 on a value turnover of P5.2 billion. Gainers beat losers, 113 to 82, with 40 issues unchanged.
Conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. gained 1.7 percent to P4.68, while D&L Industries Inc., which is into the production of food ingredients, plastics and chemicals, advanced 2.7 percent to P10.78.
BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, gained 2.1 percent to P129.70, while parent SM Investments Corp. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. rose 2 percent to P929.
Japanese shares, meanwhile, surged nearly four percent on Thursday after the White House said Fed Chair Jay Powell would not be fired.
Asian markets followed Tokyo’s lead with most showing gains, giving some welcome relief from a lingering global market downturn.
Singapore was up 1.7 percent in afternoon trade, Taiwan gained 1.7 percent and Bangkok rose 1.5 percent. Sydney closed up 1.9 percent.
After morning gains, Hong Kong slid into negative territory, falling 0.3 percent by mid-afternoon while Shanghai closed down 0.6 percent.
“Thankfully for investors, the relentless selling on the back of risk-off sentiment which prevailed leading up to Christmas has mercifully halted… with the Dow surging over 1,000 points while adding the most significant points gain in history,” said Stephen Innes, head of APAC trading at OANDA.
Wall Street stocks roared back to life in post-Christmas trade on Wednesday, shaking off four straight routs following strong retail sales data and White House reassurances that Powell would not be fired.
Sentiment also improved after a Bloomberg News report said a US government delegation would travel to Beijing in early January to hold trade talks, the first face-to-face discussion since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on a 90-day trade war truce.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up nearly 1,100 points, or about five percent, with the broad-based S&P 500 also surging five percent.
“It was possible that risk appetite wouldn’t recover until after the new year but thanks to the upturns in Tokyo and New York, we are likely to see the new year in with a somewhat brighter mood,” Mizuho Securities said in a note.
Many investors have been unnerved by a variety of factors, including the partial US government shutdown, the US-China trade war and Trump’s ongoing criticism of Fed Chair Powell.
But while a sense of relief won out for now, analysts warned that there was still much uncertainty in the market.
“Don’t get too comfortable as discussions regarding the various political and policy questions remain hanging in the balance,” said Innes.
US stock-index futures fell as much as 0.6 percent on Thursday, suggesting investors are unlikely to sustain Wednesday’s rally when US markets open. With AFP