PH shares swing back to above 7,000 level

The stock market welcomed December by breaching the 7,000 level anew after the government maintained quarantine restrictions in some parts of the country, including the capital, and further relaxed them in others.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) jumped by 3.21 percent or 218.10 points to finish at its intraday high of 7,009.56 while the wider All Shares climbed by 2.42 percent or 99.39 points to close at 4,199.67 on Tuesday.

AAA Equities Head of Research Christopher Mangun said the bourse rallied as buyers picked up shares of blue chips. He noted that investors remained upbeat, as shown in the market’s movement and trading volumes.

Mangun attributed the optimism to “expectations of [increased] mobility in the coming weeks as the government lifted certain restrictions to allow more economic activity.”

On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that Metro Manila would remain under general community quarantine (GCQ) until the end of the month, as are Batangas and Lanao del Sur provinces and the cities of Davao, Iligan, Iloilo and Tacloban.

The rest of the country would be put or remain under modified GCQ.

The decision to keep Metro Manila and other key cities of the country under GCQ came as the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases continues to rise, fueling concerns that these might spike further during the Christmas season.

As of Tuesday, the number of Covid-19 infections increased by 1,298 to 432,925, of which 25,725 are active. Of the total, 398,782 have recovered and 8,418 succumbed to the highly contagious respiratory disease, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December.

Meanwhile, Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said investors positioned themselves for a Christmas rally. He noted that many of them bought shares that were “heavily oversold” after last week’s MSCI rebalancing.

Most local sectors gained, with property leading at 4.55 percent and holding firms at 4 percent. Financials lost 0.78 percent.

Total volume turnover was at 4.04 billion shares, valued at P10.89 billion.

Gainers outpaced losers, 119 to 102, while 35 securities were unchanged.