Bargain hunting snaps market’s losing streak streak

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices soared back to life, snapping the market’s five-day losing streak.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed by 0.96 percent or 61.35 points to end at 6,433.10, while the broader All Shares index surged by 1.12 percent or 38.3 points to settle at 3,463.87.

Claire Alviar of Philstocks Financila said the local market’s ascent back above the 6,400-level was driven by last-minute bargain hunting.

“Investors seized the opportunity to buy stocks at attractive prices following a five-day decline, resulting in a technical bounce at the 6,400 support level,” she said.

Alviar said the net market value turnover was strong at P22.22 billion due to the MSCI rebalancing.

“Philippines shares had a volatile session as investors bought up to align with the latest MSCI rebalancing, while others analyzed US corporate earnings ahead of a key inflation report,” Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said.

“Locally the stock market bounced back after hitting its lower point yesterday (Thursday) as the peso weakened against the dollar, amid rising inflation concerns,” he said.

The sectoral gauges were a mixed bag, with financials and holding firms dropping by 0.73 percent and 0.51 percent, respectively.

Services surged by 4.21 percent, while industrial rose by 1.99 percent.

Market breadth was positive as advancers edged out decliners, 98 to 89, while 51 shares were unchanged.

Converge ICT Solutions led the index members with a 7.6-percent growth, while Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. lost the most by 5.27 percent.