PSEi rallies as Russia-Ukraine tensions ease

MANILA, Philippines — Local shares rebounded on Wednesday as Moscow’s decision to pull back its troops in Ukraine’s borders soothes investor fears of a looming Russian invasion.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index soared 1.96% to close trading at 7,452.82. The broader All Shares index likewise leapt 1.82% while all the sub-indices finished in the green, led by shares in the property index which gained 3.99%.

For Luis Limlingan, head of sales at local brokerage Regina Capital, this was propelled by the hopes that tension would finally ease between the two countries.

"Philippine shares broke from the slump after Russia appeared to be backing away from an immediate invasion of Ukraine, cooling geopolitical tensions that have knocked the stock market down the previous days," Limlingan said in a Viber message.

Aniceto Pangan, a trader, said Wednesday’s rally was also likely due to investors picking up badly beaten names during the previous day’s slump. Rastine Mercado, research head of China Bank Securities Corp, agreed.

"This helped spur buying appetite among investors despite persisting levels of volatility," Mercado said in a text message.

Regional equity markets were upbeat following the easing tensions as well. In early exchanges today, Tokyo piled on more than 2%, while Hong Kong, Seoul, Wellington, and Taipei jumped more than 1% each. Shanghai, Sydney and Jakarta were also up, though Singapore inched down.

At home, foreign investors bought P893.4 million more shares than they sold in the stock market. A total of 1.16 billion local shares, valued at P9.53 billion, switched hands on Wednesday. — with AFP