Stock market climbs back into 5,000-pt territory

MANILA, Philippines - Local stocks climbed for the third straight day due to continuous bargain hunting, propelling the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) past the 5,000 mark for the first time since mid-May.

The bellwether PSEi jumped 1.42 percent or 70.37 points to close at 5,023.11, the first time the main index hit the 5,000 mark since closing at 5,017.02 on May 17.

The broader All Shares index gained 1.2 percent or 39.98 points to 3,352.16.

“We are in consolidation but it seems bargain hunters ruled the day expecting good news for the economy,” Astro C. del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., said in a phone interview.

Del Castillo said investors are optimistic on the first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data due to the government’s pump priming.

Growth in GDP – the value of goods and services produced by the economy – hit 3.7 percent last year, slower compared with the 7.6 percent record in 2010 given a decline in public spending.

First quarter GDP likely grew within the five to six percent full year target of the government, the National Economic and Development Authority said last week.

Almost all sub-indices, save for the service sector, were in the green.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers, 109 to 43; another 45 issues were unchanged.

Turnover jumped to P5.25 billion yesterday from P4.07 billion on Monday.

Del Castillo said the local market did not get leads from the US, which celebrated the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.

Most actively traded stocks were in the green, led by second most-traded GT Capital Holdings Inc. that rallied 3.1 percent or P15 to P498 while third most-traded Universal Robina Corp. rose 1.5 percent or 90 centavos to P61.

Top-traded and index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. sank 1.79 percent or P42 to P2,306.

For the rest of the week, Del Castillo said market will trade sideways and stay within the 5,000 level.

Around Asia, stock markets moved higher yesterday after a choppy start as hopes for new measures to boost China’s economy outweighed worries about the health of Spanish banks and their potential to worsen Europe’s debt crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 percent to 8,610.89 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent to 18,899.61.

South Korea’s Kospi added 1.3 percent to 1,848.96 after being closed Monday for a public holiday. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China also rose. Indonesia’s fell.

Concerns about Spain’s banks have grown since Bankia, the country’s fourth-largest lender, said Friday it needed €19 billion ($23.8 billion) in state aid to shore itself up against bad loans — largely from real estate gone sour.

That magnified fears of a possible debt implosion in Europe’s weaker economies — starting with Greece, which will run out of money in the coming days without an emergency loan.

But analysts said investors were emboldened to scoop up oversold shares because of hopes that China is on the verge of taking action to shore up its fatigued economy.

Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, said there are increasing expectations that China will relax monetary policy and also announce fiscal stimulus measures.

“This has been a predominant theme since Premier Wen Jiabao’s comments showing commitment to keep China’s growth from stalling,” he said.

Negative sentiment was also slightly assuaged by recent polls suggested an upcoming election in Greece might result in a government willing to stick to a highly unpopular austerity program.

Sticking to its austerity commitments will enable Greece to qualify for an urgently needed international bailout to avoid defaulting on its massive debts and remain in the euro currency union. – Neil Jerome Morales, AP