The stock market surged Friday on bargain hunting after a steep fall in the first trading day of the year, with select blue chips leading the advancers.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 97.26 points, or 1.3 percent, to 7,839.79 on a value turnover of nearly P5.6 billion. Gainers beat losers, 108 to 68, with 59 issues unchanged.
Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, advanced 5.6 percent to P149, while parent JG Summit Holdings Inc. climbed 5.1 percent to P82.
International Container Terminal Services Inc. of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. increased 4.2 percent to P135.50, but Manila Water Co. Inc. fell 5 percent to P9.22.
Oil prices, meanwhile, soared more than four percent Friday following news that the US had killed a top Iranian general, fanning fresh fears of a conflict in the crude-rich region, with Tehran warning of retaliation.
The drama sent investors rushing for the hills and safe-haven units rallied with the yen up 0.7 percent against the dollar and gold climbing 1.4 percent towards $1,600 and a near seven-year high.
High-risk currencies retreated against the greenback, with South Korea’s won down 0.6 percent, Australia’s dollar off 0.4 percent and the South African rand down more than one percent.
Equities were mixed, having been rallying for the second day of the year on China-US trade optimism.
Hong Kong fell 0.3 percent, Shanghai ended down 0.1 percent and Singapore retreated 0.7 percent, while Mumbai eased 0.5 percent.
But there were gains in Sydney, Seoul, Wellington and Taipei.
Regional energy firms were the big winners, with Santos surging more than two percent in Sydney and while Hong Kong-listed PetroChina climbed more than three percent.
Markets had all been well up before news of the strike, thanks to ongoing optimism fueled by the China-US trade agreement, looser central bank monetary policies and easing Brexit worries.
“Investors are worried that the situation in Iran will worsen, since there could be some retaliation,” said Steven Leung at Mizuho Bank. “People will want to cut risk ahead of the weekend. Stocks have rallied a lot in the past month or so, so any bad news flow is a reason to take profit.”
The head of Iran’s Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, was hit in an attack on Baghdad’s international airport early Friday, according to Hashed al-Shaabi, a powerful Iraqi paramilitary force linked to Tehran.
Later, Donald Trump tweeted a picture of the American flag, and the Pentagon said he had ordered Soleimani’s killing.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of “severe revenge” for “the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with his blood,” while the country’s foreign minister called the move a “dangerous escalation.”
Brent surged 4.4 percent to $69.16 and WTI jumped 4.3 percent to $63.84 as investors grow increasingly worried about the effects of a possible flare-up in the tinderbox Middle East on supplies of the commodity. Both contracts later pared the gains but remained well up. With AFP