The stock market rose Thursday to snap a five-day slump on bargain hunting, with select blue chips leading the rally.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 34.47 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,772.86 on a value turnover of nearly P5.3 billion. Gainers beat losers, 105 to 77, with 48 issues unchanged.
Casino operator Bloomberrry Resorts Corp. of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. advanced 6.8 percent to P7.05, while food processor Century Pacific Food Inc. of the Po family climbed 5.3 percent to P17.50.
Manila Water Co. Inc., a unit of Ayala Corp., increased 2.8 percent to P14.50, while International Container Terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator, also rose 2.8 percent to P105.40.
The rest of Asian equities were mixed Thursday following another blow-out session on Wall Street, with new vaccine hopes and central bank largesse offset by a well-below-forecast US jobs reading and tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The New York rally seeped through to Asia early Thursday but some markets were unable to maintain their rallies.
Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Wellington all posted big gains, while Taipei and Bangkok were also higher. Mumbai and Singapore were in the red.
Hong Kong and Shanghai were well down after Washington’s decision to impose fresh restrictions on Chinese diplomats in the US, the latest salvo in a long-running standoff that includes issues including the virus to technology and trade.
The new requirements of People’s Republic of China diplomats “are a direct response to the excessive restraints already placed on our diplomats by the PRC,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
Payrolls firm ADP said the US added 428,000 new jobs in August—a third of what was expected—boding ill ahead of the release of Friday’s much-anticipated government data, which is used as a guide for the state of the world’s top economy.
Still, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq clocked record highs, and the Dow jumped an impressive 1.6 percent.
Analysts pointed out that gains were beginning to broaden out from the technology giants who have helped power much of the past months’ surge.
“Quite why the rally has broadened out is frankly anyone’s guess, though both the ‘rates lower for longer’ and ‘vaccine round the corner’ pretexts received some (small) succor overnight,” said National Australia Bank’s Ray Attrill.
US officials have called on states to prepare to distribute a possible vaccine by November 1—two days before the presidential election.
Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an August 27 letter that state leaders should consider waiving requirements that would “prevent these facilities from becoming fully operational by Nov. 1, 2020.”
The CDC explained details of a rollout plan, adding that they would either be approved as licensed vaccines or under emergency use authorization.
Donald Trump’s top infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci, on Wednesday told NBC: “I believe that by the time we get to the end of this calendar year that we will feel comfortable that we do have a safe and effective vaccine.” With AFP