The stock market gained Friday, picking up the baton from Wall Street while the euro stood firm against a sell-off despite a victory for Catalan separatists in a snap poll.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 54.03 points, or 0.6 percent, to 8,432.31 on a value turnover of P10.2 billion. Gainers beat losers 108 to 96, with 40 issues unchanged.
BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, climbed 2.3 percent to P153.60, while Cebu Air Inc., operator of the largest budget airline, advanced 2.2 percent to P98.60.
Filinvest Land Inc., the property unit of the Gotianun Group, increased 2.2 percent to P1.90, while technology stock Xurpas Inc. jumped 8.7 percent to P5.73.
Most Asian markets on Friday, meanwhile saw in the Christmas break on a positive note.
Global equities rallied over the past year on hopes Donald Trump’s key election promise to cut taxes would boost corporate profits and put money in people’s pockets, but traders cashed in their profits soon after the bill was passed this week.
However, buying perked up again Thursday on bets that the tax reform will further fire the already healthy US economy, while there was also cheer for news that lawmakers had agreed a deal to avert a painful government shutdown.
“A day after being nonplussed with the passage of the US tax bill through the House and Senate, it seems stock traders decided that yes, after all, they do think the tax cuts will help valuations and the economy,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.
The US gains extended into Asia with Hong Kong up 0.3 percent, Sydney adding 0.2 percent and Singapore putting on 0.3 percent.
Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.2 percent higher, while Seoul, Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were also stronger.
But Shanghai dipped 0.1 percent.
“The US corporate tax cut will lead to better earnings results and have a positive impact on the economy,” Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.
However, Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, warned of possible headwinds for 2018, pointing out that Trump could struggle to push through a planned $1-trillion infrastructure bill in the face of low poll ratings and possible mid-term election losses.
On currency markets the euro edged down but held its own after Catalan separatists won the crucial election Thursday, fueling fresh uncertainty in Spain, one of the eurozone’s biggest economies.
The vote came after a failed independence bid earlier this year rattled Europe and triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
While pointing out there had been little immediate negative impact on the single currency, Innes said the result “would deal a significant blow (to) Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that could potentially escalate.”
Bitcoin sank 20 percent to briefly sit just above $13,000 for the first time since December 7, hit by profit-taking. With AFP