Philippine stocks rebounded Wednesday on last-minute bargain hunting, narrower trade deficit in March and positive employment data.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 40.60 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 6,659.18, while the broader all-shares index climbed 10.82 points, or 0.31 percent, to 3,516.57.
Philstocks Financial Inc research analyst Claire Alviar said the positive employment data bolstered investor sentiment.
Alviar said while the government reported that unemployment rate in March rose to 3.9 percent from 3.5 percent in February, this figure was still considered tight and lower than the previous year’s 4.7 percent.
“Additionally, in terms of figure, the number of unemployed declined by 17.2 percent year-on-year to 2 million,” Alviar said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority also reported that trade deficit narrowed in March as imports contracted by 20 percent and exports fell 7.3 percent.
Value turnover reached P5.37 billion. Sectoral indices ended mixed with holding firms registering the biggest decline of 1.03 percent and property posting the highest gain of 4.71 percent.