Philippine stocks rebounded on Tuesday, reclaiming the 6,300 territory as investors capitalized on bargain hunting and positive cues from Wall Street.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 33.03 points, or 0.53 percent, to finish at 6,306.90. Meanwhile, the broader all shares index remained rela-tively flat, closing at 3,581.08.
“The PSEi ended higher after several days of decline as investors engaged in bargain hunting,” said Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp.
Market sentiment received an additional boost from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) latest forecast, which suggests Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth could hit 6 percent by 2027, provided there is a sustained increase in both private and public investments.
“This improved outlook helped lift risk appetite and encouraged selective buying across the market,” Limlingan added.
The services and holding firms sectors led the gains, with both indices rising by 1.37 percent. Conversely, the mining and oil sector saw the steepest decline, dropping 1.54 percent.
Market activity was robust, with value turnover reaching P8.14 billion. Foreign investors turned net buyers, recording significant inflows of P7.41 billion.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp. emerged as the day’s top index gainer, surging 3.62 percent to close at P529. On the losing end, Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) fell 5.2 percent to P7.30.
AGI is set to be removed from the benchmark index effective Feb. 2, making way for RL Commercial REIT Corp., the real estate investment trust of Robinsons Land Corp.
While stocks rose, the local currency weakened. The Philippine peso slipped to 59.085 against the U.S. dollar, down from Monday’s close of 58.971. With AFP
Asian stock markets rallied Tuesday following Wall Street’s healthy lead, with tech firms leading Seoul to another record as investors brushed off Donald Trump’s threat to hike tariffs on South Korean goods.
The yen held its gains after a two-day surge stoked by intervention talk, while geopoliti-cal and economic uncertainty saw silver hit another fresh peak and gold hover just be-low its own high.
Traders are also gearing up for a Federal Reserve policy meeting and earnings from tech titans, which will be pored over for an idea about sustainability of the AI invest-ment surge.
Equities enjoyed healthy buying despite the US president reverting to tariff threats, warning South Korea he would impose 25 percent tolls on goods including autos for falling short of expectations on an earlier pact struck with Washington.
The announcement comes months after the two sides struck a trade and security deal following tense negotiations, setting levies at 15 percent.
“South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He added that he was increasing tariff rates “because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative”.
The presidential office in Seoul said it had not been informed in advance but added that Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan, currently in Canada, would head to Washington for talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Trump’s outburst follows a warning to Canada on Saturday that it faced 100 percent levies if it signed a trade deal with China, days after backing down from a threat to hit several European countries with measures over their opposition to his grab for Green-land.
Still, Seoul’s Kospi continued its run to fresh record highs by jumping 2.8 percent, with observers pointing to the US president’s history of rowing back the worst of his threats.
While carmakers slipped, tech firms ploughed higher with chipmaking giant SK hynix up 8.7 percent and Samsung Electronics up 4.8 percent.
There were also big gains in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Bang-kok, Manila and Jakarta.
London, Paris and Frankfurt all opened with gains.
– India-EU trade deal –
Mumbai advanced in early trade after India and the European Union unveiled a free-trade deal totaling about a quarter of global GDP, following two decades of negotia-tions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the agreement “will bring many opportunities for India’s 1.4 billion and many millions of people of the EU”.
Tech firms are enjoying a fresh boost ahead of earnings releases as traders continue to pile into all things AI.
Magnificent Seven members Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Tesla are due this week, with other bellwethers including Texas Instruments, Boeing and Mastercard providing an idea about the state of the economy.
However, with questions being asked about the amount of cash being invested in arti-ficial intelligence, there is a little nervousness on trading floors about when profits will be realized.
“The AI capex cycle is increasingly colliding with the real world: debt markets, power grids, and regulation,” wrote Matt Weller, head of market research at City Index.
He added that “2026 capex estimates for the largest ‘hyperscalers’ is widely forecast to hit the $600 bn+ range, driven primarily by AI infrastructure. At the same time, major tech firms have leaned more heavily into debt issuance to fund the infrastructure race”.
“This matters for earnings because the market’s attention is moving from ‘who spends the most’ to ‘who can sustain the spend without eroding free cash flow’, especially if AI monetization takes longer than expected.”
Developments in Washington are also being followed after some senators warned they would vote against upcoming spending bills following the second killing of a US citi-zen in Minneapolis, threatening another possible government shutdown.
The dollar remained under pressure after its latest selloff sparked by talk of a joint inter-vention between US and Japanese authorities to support the yen.
And in corporate news, Hong Kong-listed shares in China’s Zijin Gold International rose 1.5 percent after it agreed to buy Allied Gold, which owns gold mines in Africa, for US$4 billion. Its parent, Zijin Mining Group, soared more than six percent before paring the gains.
Zijin Gold’s shares have tripled since listing in September. With AFP
