PSEi rallies on bargain hunting

MANILA, Philippines – Share prices rallied yesterday as investors took advantage of bargain prices and as Democrat Hillary Clinton showed more chances of winning the presidential elections than Republican Donald Trump, analysts said.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index recovered 110.61 points to 7,307.80, while the broader All Shares index climbed 52.94 points to 4,364.22.

All counters were up, except services, which eased 0.01 points.

Total value turnover reached P7.19 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners at 119 to 64, while 49 issues were unchanged.

“We were down (a few days) due to political risks abroad. Given that we’re already a few hours before the (US) elections, investors opted to take advantage of the bargain prices,” Astro del Castillo, managing director First Grade Finance Inc. said.

“In international news, it seems like there’s a higher chance if Hillary Clinton winning the elections which is really likely be favorable for global equities,” Lexter Azurin, analyst at Unicapital, added.

Separate polls conducted by Bloomberg and Fox News showed that Clinton was leading against Donald Trump by three points and four points, respectively.

Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital, also noted the upward trend in the Conference Board Employment Trends Index in October. The index recovered to 128.97 from a downwardly revised 128.29 in September.