The stock market rallied further Thursday along with the rest of Asia as traders cheered soothing comments on the US economy by the Federal Reserve after it lifted interest rates.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 96 points, or 1.4 percent, to 7,122.45 on a value turnover of P7.5 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 123 to 62, with 49 issues unchanged.
Converge ICT Solutions Inc. advanced 9.5 percent to P25.95, while Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-biggest lender in terms of assets, climbed 5.2 percent to P99.90.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. of the Ty Group, the second-largest bank, increased 3.7 percent to P54.20, while AC Energy Corp. of the Ayala Group rose 3.4 percent to P8.43.
The rest of Asian markets climbed Thursday with another blistering surge in tech firms helping Hong Kong extend its recovery from the recent rout,
Regional sentiment remains buoyant after China’s top economic official vowed measures to support beaten-down markets and indicated that a debilitating crackdown on the technology sector was nearing its end.
The news lit a fire under Asia on Wednesday—sending Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rocketing more than nine percent and the city’s tech gauge flying by a record 22 percent.
That provided a platform for traders in Europe and New York, where an index of US-listed Chinese firms ended up 33 percent.
After the healthy gains on Wall Street, Asia picked up the baton happily.
Tokyo charged more than three percent higher, while Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul and Mumbai were all up more than one percent. Taipei put on three percent with gains also seen in Singapore, Bangkok and Wellington.
And the buying continued in early business on Thursday, with the HSI piling on seven percent with market heavyweight tech titans including Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com building on their eye-watering rallies.
Companies in other sectors that have been in Beijing’s cross hairs over the past year, such as casinos and developers, also extended a rally.
“The statement addressed so many issues on various fronts, which is really rare,” Ding Shuang at Standard Chartered said.
“Selloffs tended to be self-fulfilling partly because of the lack of response from the government,” but part of the government’s aim is likely to break that inertia and stabilize expectations, he added.
Adding to the broadly positive mood on trading floors were hopes that Ukraine and Russia were edging towards a ceasefire in a war that has sent markets spiraling and fears over inflation soaring with commodity prices.
Traders have grown increasingly worried that the spike in inflation and war in Europe will knock off-course an already fragile pandemic recovery, providing a headache for central bankers who are trying to rein in ultra-loose monetary policies.
And the Fed appeared to soothe some of those worries Wednesday when it lifted interest rates—by a quarter of a point—for the first time since 2018 but gave an upbeat review of the world’s number-one economy.
Governor Jerome Powell said there was little chance of a recession in the next year and noted that it was “very strong and well positioned to handle tighter monetary policy.” With AFP