Stocks rose Monday after a mixed US jobs report lifted hopes the Federal Reserve will skip an interest rate hike this month, while oil extended gains after Saudi Arabia slashed output.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, rose 9.63 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 6,521.64, as four of the six subsectors advanced.
The broader all-shares index went up 11 points, or 0.33 percent, to settle at 3,486.33 on a value turnover of P3.38 billion. Gainers outnumbered losers, 114 to 64, while 37 shares were unchanged.
Six of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Monde Nissin Corp. which climbed 4.46 percent to P8.20 and Robinsons Land Corp. which gained 2.85 percent to P14.42.
Wall Street surged Friday after data showed the US economy added 339,000 jobs last month, far more than expected, indicating the labor market remained strong despite more than a year of Fed rate increases.
However, the report also revealed wage gains moderated slightly, putting less pressure on inflation.
Analysts said the “Goldilocks” reading—neither too good nor too bad—suggested the economy was not facing an immediate risk of a recession and could still give the Fed room to hold policy steady.
Asian traders welcomed the news, with Hong Kong extending Friday’s four percent surge, while Tokyo piled on more than two percent to a fresh three-decade high and Sydney added one percent.
Shanghai was helped by a Bloomberg News report that China was looking at measures to help its beleaguered property sector, which accounts for a huge portion of its economy.
Singapore, Mumbai, Seoul, Taipei nd Jakarta also rose.
Meanwhile, the PSE said the number of online stock market accounts reached 1.26 million in 2022, an 8.6 percent increase from the previous year’s level.
It said despite the muted growth in online accounts compared to previous years, the average value per online transaction rose 33.2 percent to P46,236 from P34,701 in 2021.
It said while close to 100,000 online accounts were added last year, the number of non-online accounts decreased by more the 7,000 to 453,827.
The total stock market accounts registered was at 1.712 million as of end-2022, up by 5.7 percent from 2021’s 1.62 million accounts.
“The growth in accounts may have been subdued in 2022, but I expect an uptick in numbers again with the foray of new stock brokerage firms in the online trading space and the upcoming rollout of stock investing features in finance apps,” said PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon.
Monzon said the total number of stock market accounts was also affected by the clean-up of dormant accounts done by the trading participants in compliance with Republic Act No. 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Local retail investors accounted for over 98 percent of the total stock market accounts while institutional investors and foreign investors owned 1.9 percent and 1.7 percent of the total stock market accounts, respectively.
The PSE’s stock market investor profile report showed an increase in accounts owned by investors in the 30 to 44 age range, accounting for more than half of the retail accounts in 2022.
The 45 to 59 year old investors comprised 20.7 percent of accounts, followed by the 18 to 29 year olds at 18.7 percent and investors aged 60 and above at 10.8 percent.
Investors with an annual income of less than P500,000 annually made up 53.5 percent of retail accounts and 72.9 percent of online retail accounts.
Those who earn an annual income of P500,000 to P1 million had a 25.6-percent and 13.6-percent share in retail accounts and online retail accounts, respectively. Investors whose annual income is above P1 million comprised 20.9 percent of retail investors and 13.6 percent of online investors. With AFP