Stocks surge; Bloomberry, Jollibee advance

The stock market jumped Wednesday as traders tracked results of the US presidential election, but investors were on edge over worries that the outcome might not be as clear-cut as hoped.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index soared 128.49 points, or 2 percent, to 6,464.05 on a value turnover of P7.2 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 135 to 73, with 46 issues unchanged.

Bloomberry Resorts Corp. of port tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. advanced 7 percent to P7.90, while Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fast-food chain, climbed 6 percent to P185.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-biggest lender in terms of assets, rose 5 percent to P42.75, while parent GT Capital Holdings Inc. of the Ty Group added 3.7 percent to P450.

The rest of Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday. Shares have rallied this week as traders piled bets on Joe Biden winning the White House, with opinion polls showing him with a big national lead though with slim advantages in battleground states.

Tokyo led gains, jumping 1.7 percent, while Hong Kong Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, Wellington and Bangkok were also up. Taipei gained one percent.

However, Sydney and Jakarta fell.

While the former vice president was still favorite, trading floors grew nervous as it became apparent Donald Trump was performing much better than expected.

With key states too close to call, the final outcome might not be known until later this week and it also throws up the chances of a challenge to the result, which could spell fresh market turmoil and legal chaos.

Speculation is that counting in Pennsylvania—which could be the decider—might not be called until possibly Friday.

Investors had been increasingly betting on a Democratic sweep of Congress and the White House, which would pave the way for a massive stimulus package for the stuttering economy but results suggest they will struggle to achieve that.

Still, in a brief speech, Biden expressed confidence he will win but warned the result could take time, with Trump immediately hitting back accusing the challenger of trying to steal the election.

While Tuesday was formally Election Day, in reality, Americans have been voting for weeks. The Covid-19 pandemic caused a huge expansion in mail-in and early voting, and nearly 100 million people had already cast their ballots, though many of those will not be counted until polls close.

“Biden is still favored to win the presidency, but we now could be heading towards a delayed confirmation of the winner of the election, which is probably the worst-case scenario for risk,” said Axi strategist Stephen Innes.

Erika Karp, founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital Group, warned that “the closer the race is, the bigger the risk is.”

She added: “A close outcome is a risk to the market.”

While a failure for Biden and the Democrats would jolt markets, the general consensus is that whoever wins will still push through a major stimulus package for the struggling US economy as it battles the virus.

In Hong Kong, tech titan Alibaba sank more than seven percent after China’s shock, last-minute decision to suspend the world-record $34-billion IPO of its fintech arm Ant Group less than 48 hours before it was due to debut.

Shanghai’s stock exchange announced the suspension late Tuesday, a day after founder Jack Ma was summoned by regulators amid growing official pushback against the company.

The Shanghai exchange cited “major issues such as changes in the fintech supervisory environment” that it said raised concerns over whether Ant Group could now meet listing requirements. With AFP