Market gets boost from Wall St’s strong finish
Share prices rallied yesterday, lifting the main index to its best finish in four weeks, as investors cheered Wall Street’s upturn overnight on encouraging economic data and hopes for a half-point cut in US interest rates.
All sectors advanced although mild profit-taking in the final hour of trading trimmed gains.
The 30-company composite index rose 85.25 points or 2.3 percent to 3,733.96, off a high of 3,754.75.
It was the key index’s highest close since Nov. 7, when it settled at 3,788.26.
The broader all-share index rose 40.25 points or 1.8 percent to 2,264.81. There were 77 advancers and 29 decliners, while 60 stocks were flat.
A total of 3.1 billion shares worth P5.1 billion were traded.
ADP Employer Services said 189,000 jobs were added during the month, boosting hopes for a strong nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
But some investors are still betting that the US Federal Reserve will lower rates by as much as 50 basis points at its next meeting on Dec. 11 on the view that the outlook for the
“Whether it’s 25 or 50 basis points doesn’t matter. Any rate cut should be taken positively as that will give the
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Cash remittances by Filipinos abroad are a key driver of growth for the Philippine economy.
A cut in US rates may also prompt the Philippine central bank to follow suit.
“We see the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points (next week) and if the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas does likewise, the dollar-peso interest rate differential would at least be maintained at modest levels, which would help keep the peso from rising even faster,” said Lim Su Sian, an economist at DBS Bank in Singapore.
Market heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) jumped P65 or 2.1 percent to P3,125, tracking gains in its American Depositary Receipts overnight. — Technistock
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