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Friday, March 29, 2024

Market rises; Jollibee, Megawide top gainers

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Stocks rose Thursday, on window dressing near the end of the first quarter and after Fitch Ratings retained the country’s investment-grade credit score with a positive outlook.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, rose 8 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 7,332.59, as four of the six major sectors—industrial, mining and oil, services and holding firms—advanced.

The heavier index, representing all shares, gained 7 points, or 0.2 percent, to settle at 4,411.65, on a value turnover of P7.6 billion.  Losers edged gainers, 92 to 91, while 49 issues were unchanged.

Twelve of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Megawide Construction Corp. which climbed 4.6 percent to P17.78 and Jollibee Foods Corp. which rose 3.5 percent to P194.50.  Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. went up 2.4 percent to P88.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks fell as investors approached the end of the best quarter for global equities since 2013. The yen weakened and crude extended Wednesday’s surge.

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Asian markets turned negative following two days of gains, but energy firms were lifted by an oil rally while the pound held up after Britain formally triggered talks to leave the European Union.

Trading floors turned red at the start of the week as Donald Trump’s failure to push through his healthcare reform fuelled worries about the prospects for his economy-boosting agenda.

But regional traders have regained some confidence since Monday, fuelled by optimism about the US economy—as data points to a healthy outlook—and the hopes the new president will eventually be able to deliver promised tax-cut and spending measures.

Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, said: “It looks like the Trumponomics rally is as much about the actual improvement in the data as it is about expectations of the future in a Trumponomics world.”

Asia was unable to press on with the recent gains and by the break Tokyo ended 0.8 percent down, while Hong Kong slipped 0.4 percent and Shanghai lost one percent. Seoul dipped 0.1 percent while Singapore, Jakarta and Taipei also retreated.

Sydney was 0.4 percent higher.

In early European trade London and Frankfurt each rose 0.1 percent while Paris was up 0.2 percent.

However, energy stocks took up the lead from their US counterparts after a US inventory report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in crude supplies and lower stockpiles of gasoline.

The news sent both main oil contracts around two percent higher Wednesday and they edged slightly higher in Asia trade.

Japan’s Inpex was up 0.3 percent, Origin Energy rose 0.9 percent in Sydney and Hong Kong-listed PetroChina was 0.2 percent higher.

“Beleaguered oil bulls finally had something to cheer about overnight, as crude jumped over two percent following a lower than expected EIA Crude Inventory number,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note.

The smaller-than-forecast increase, along with a supply disruption in Libya “saw buyers dip their toes into the market with vigor for the first time in two weeks”.

On currency markets the pound avoided suffering more heavy losses against the dollar and euro after sinking Wednesday following the official handover of a letter signalling Britain’s desire to leave the EU and beginning two years of divorce talks. With Bloomberg, AFP

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