Stocks rose Tuesday on bargain-hunting as investors picked up oversold issues after Monday’s global market rout.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index gained 44.01 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,907.03 on a value turnover of P5.4 billion. Gainers beat losers, 112 to 76, with 42 issues unchanged.
Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. added 1.5 percent to P44.50, while Megaworld Corp., the biggest lessor of office spaces increased 1.2 percent to P5.72.
SOC Resources Inc. of the Puyat-Reyes Group jumped 26.8 percent to P1.42 after reporting Friday that it expects to generate P8 billion in sales from three upcoming residential projects that it plans to launch.
Security Bank Corp., the sixth-largest lender in terms of assets, rose 2.6 percent to P172.
The rest of Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday after the previous day’s steep losses, though investors trod cautiously as they grow increasingly anxious about the state of the global economy.
With a mixed lead from Wall Street, there were few catalysts to drive buying, while safe-haven flows saw the dollar edge up against high-yielding currencies.
Attention is also back on London, where MPs essentially wrested control of the Brexit debate from Prime Minister Theresa May with a vote that will allow them to decide on a number of possibilities for how to proceed.
Investors in Asia were suffering a hangover from Monday’s pummeling, which came on the back of a drop in benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yields below those for three-month bills for the first time since before the global financial crisis.
This so-called inverted yield curve shows investors are more willing to buy long-term debt—usually viewed as a higher risk—as they consider the short-term outlook more hazardous. Such a scenario has preceded several recessions in recent decades.
“Recession worries may be premature for the US, but the negative signals are consistent with the recent data,” said OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya.
Tokyo led gains, jumping more than two percent—having dived three percent Monday—while Sydney added 0.1 percent, Singapore put on 0.4 percent and Seoul edged up 0.2 percent.
Wellington, Taipei, Mumbai and Jakarta also rose, while Bangkok barely moved as rival camps jostled for position, hoping to form a government after Thailand’s first election since a coup.
Hong Kong slipped 0.1 percent and Shanghai tumbled 1.5 percent.
In Britain, the Brexit saga took a new twist when lawmakers inflicted yet another defeat on May by voting to take control of parliamentary business that will see them hold a series of ballots on different options for leaving the EU.
They will now choose whether to revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit, hold another referendum, vote for a deal including a customs union and single market membership, or leave the EU without a deal.
However, even if they decide a majority course of action, the government is not legally bound to follow their instructions. With AFP