Unfazed by renewed Fed fears, Philippine shares defy regional gloom

MANILA, Philippines — Unfazed by rising inflation, local shares rallied on Tuesday as it was one of the regional bourses that brushed off concerns that the US Federal Reserve might need to keep raising interest rates. 

The Philippine Stock Exchange index surged 3.61% to close at 6,674.38. The broader All Shares index shot up 2.17%.

All of the sub-indices landed in green, led by holding firms which skyrocketed 4.35%. 

Luis Limlingan, head of sales at local brokerage Regina Capital, noted the local bourse kept its head above water amid trading today. 

“Investors shrugged concerns that the Fed will need to hike interest rates for longer than previously anticipated with the intended goal of bringing down inflation following the better than expected Nov ISM services data,” he said. 

Investors didn’t even flinch when the latest inflation data came in, as the Philippines saw the prices of consumer goods and services accelerate to 7.8% year-on-year in November. 

Limlingan noted that the market is still anticipating the US Fed to hike rates by 50 basis points this month. As it is, the Fed’s aggressive tightening is widely expected to temper the growth momentum of the global economy as most central banks follow its lead. 

“The verdict is in. Today's winner is the PSE index,” said Hernan Segovia, trader at Summit Securities.

“Index heavyweights SM and SM Prime Holdings did a sweet revenge by contributing 100 points at today's rally,” he added. 

Michael Enriquez, chief investment officer at Sun Life Investment Management and Trust Corp., said bargain hunting was still abound in today’s trading.

“There were some bargain hunting of large cap names that recently corrected. Market value continues to be quite anemic,” Enriquez said in a Viber message. 

All three main indexes on Wall Street lost more than 1% while Asia struggled to maintain momentum. Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai, Bangkok, Taipei and Jakarta were also in the red. Shanghai was barely moved while Tokyo rose. 

At home, foreign investors bought P270.44 million more shares than they sold in the local stock market. A total of million 582.78 million stocks, valued at P6.04 billion, switched hands on Tuesday.  — with AFP