US debt deal boosts Phl stocks

MANILA, Philippines - The local stock market cheered the breakthrough in US Congress,  boosting the Philippine Stock Exchange by 1.19 percent or 77.31 points to 6,560.88.

“The market continued its upward momentum following positive news coming from the US. The US House of Representatives voted 285-144, favoring the increase in the debt limit and ending the fiscal impasse,” said BPITrade.com director Richard Anthony Liboro.

“With the debt default being averted, it takes away one risk element from global capital markets,” said PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat.

Sicat said the recent appointment of US Federal Reserve vice-chair Janet Yellen to be the next head of the US central bank also removes the threat of tapering in the short term.

Aside from raising the debt ceiling of the US, lawmakers also approved the re-opening of the US Federal government.

Wall Street cheered the development, with the Dow Jones industrial average rallying 1.4 percent or 205.82 points to 15,373.83 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 1.4 percent or 23.48 points to 1,721.54.

However, Asian stocks were mixed yesterday, with some already discounting the development.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.83 percent or 119.37 points to 14,586.51 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.57 percent or 133.45 points to 23,094.88.

Locally, all subsectors were in the positive territory, led by mining and oil that picked up 1.79 percent or 224.81 points to 12,770.81.