THE BOURSE recovered on Friday, following Wall Street’s rally to return above the 7,000 mark.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 97.49 points or 1.39% to end 7,064.33 while the all-share index rose by 51.35 points or 1.19% to finish 4,332.59.
“Philippine shares made back some substantial gains after U.S. stocks staged a strong comeback last night, regaining much of the ground lost in a rout during the prior session,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message on Friday, while RCBC Securities, Inc. said in its Stock Market Weekend Recap attributed to research analyst Fiorenzo De Jesus: “The PSEi followed Wall Street’s rally, bucking a regional downturn, and traded in the green the entire session.”
Thursday saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise 401.13 points or 1.63% to 24,984.55, the S&P 500 gain 49.47 points or 1.86% to 2,705.57 and the Nasdaq Composite Index add 209.94 points or 2.95% to 7,318.34.
Jervin S. De Celis, Timson Securities, Inc. trader, also cited the US markets’ influence as well as general optimism about third-quarter corporate earnings, so far, as factors that buoyed local stocks.
“Since we have a shorter trading period next week, we may see the index go sideways unless we see lower estimates for the inflation rate for the month of October,” he added.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is scheduled to report October’s inflation rate on Nov. 6. Both the central bank and the Finance department are expected to release their estimates next week. Inflation has lately been clocking in at nine-month highs, averaging five percent in the nine months to September against the central bank’s 2-4% target range for full-year 2018.
The PSA is also scheduled to report third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) performance on Nov. 8. GDP clocked in at just six percent in the second quarter, slower than the 6.6% in January-March and in April-June last year.
“A better figure than the previous quarter may also propel the PSEi towards 7,200-7,500,” Mr. De Celis added.
Only one of the six sectoral indices lost on Friday: mining & oil, by 14.96 points or 0.15% to close at 9,411.22.
The others gained at the closing bell: holding firms by 146.04 points or 2.14% to 6,957.87, property by 70.81 points or 2.06% to 3,494.49, industrials by 90.36 points or 0.86% to 10,522.41, services by 3.62 points or 0.24% to 1,461.59 and financials by 1.48 points or 0.09% to 1,563.56.
Stocks that declined outnumbered those that gained 99 to 80, while 56 others ended flat.
Friday’s list of 20 most active stocks showed only one that fell at the closing bell: International Container Terminal Services, Inc., which shed 0.22% to finish at P90 apiece.
Three others ended flat: Universal Robina Corp. at P130 apiece, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. at P4.77 and Globe Telecom, Inc. at P2,050 each.
The 16 others on the list that gained included SM Investments Corp. that increased by 4.07% to P895 apiece, Ayala Corp. that climbed 3.37% to P920, Jollibee Foods Corp. that increased by 3.05% to P270, San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. that added 3.01% to P85.50 each.
RCBC Securities’ Mr. De Jesus noted that market heavyweights SM Investments and Ayala as well as their corresponding property arms SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (up 2.37%) and Ayala Land, Inc. (1.97%) contributed a total of 81.99 points to PSEi.
Some 892.966 million shares worth P4.968 billion changed hands on Friday compared to Thursday’s 870.53 million worth P5.499 billion.
Net foreign selling shrank 64% to P398.601 million from Thursday’s P1.117 billion — the smallest amount in three days — as total sales by investors abroad fell by 16.623% to P2.816 billion from P3.377 billion and overall buying grew by 6.955% to P2.417 billion from P2.26 billion. — Janina C. Lim

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