The stock market surged Monday on improving economic prospects after a positive outlook on the Philippine debt rating by S&P Global Ratings raised the possibility of a credit upgrade.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 98.23 points, or 1.3 percent, to 7,819.25 on a value turnover of P6.4 billion. Gainers beat losers, 130 to 84, with 45 issues unchanged.
SM Investments Corp. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. climbed 3.3 percent to P940, while Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is into toll roads, water and electricity distribution and hospitals, advanced 5.8 percent to P5.10.
Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. gained 2.3 percent to P12.30, while PLDT Inc., the biggest telecommunications company, climbed 2 percent to P1,463.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, led a rally across most Asian markets on Monday as traders brushed off a slowdown in the US economy, while the boost from last week’s historic North-South Korea summit continued to support Seoul and the won.
While figures on Friday showed growth in the world’s top economy slowed in January-March, tech firms on Wall Street won support after healthy earnings figures from Amazon, Microsoft and Intel.
The positive lead from New York provided some much-needed help to Asian tech firms, which have been hammered in recent weeks by worries about the lucrative smartphone market.
Hong Kong-listed AAC Technologies and Tencent each posted healthy gains, while in Taipei Apple suppliers TSMC was also sharply higher.
On broader markets Hong Kong ended 1.7 percent higher, with a better-than-forecast Chinese factory activity reading also providing support as it eased concerns about a slowdown in the mainland economy.
Seoul added 0.9 percent while Sydney gained 0.5 percent.
Singapore surged more than one percent, while Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were all deep in positive territory.
Tokyo and Shanghai were closed for public holidays.
South Korean traders remain upbeat after Friday’s meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, which fueled hopes for peace on the peninsula and for Pyongyang’s possible denuclearization.
Adding to the positive news, Kim said he would shut the North’s atomic test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure. And new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington had an “obligation” to pursue peace. The developments, which come weeks before a planned summit between Kim and Donald Trump, have helped push the won up more than one percent against the dollar.
That comes even as the dollar enjoys a fresh bout of buying thanks to a broadly positive mood about the world economy and easing worries over the China-US trade dispute.
“This week’s US trade roadshow to China, which includes (key Trump administration officials) Steven Mnuchin, Robert Lighthizer and Larry Kudlow, has undoubtedly calmed investors’ nerves, triggering an unwind of dollar risk premiums around tariff and trade,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at OANDA. With AFP