By Denise A. Valdez, Senior Reporter
THE MAIN INDEX returned to 7,000 territory on Wednesday on sustained investor optimism backed by an improvement in remittances in September.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 92.64 points or 1.33% to end the session at 7,051.78. The wider all shares index also grew 41.13 points or one percent to close at 4,144.87.
“The local bourse ended on green territory as last-minute buying of shares pushed the index above the 7,000 mark. Locally, market sentiment may have been affected positively by the recent news that remittances for the month of September grew 9.3% from the year ago,” Timson Securities, Inc. trader Darren T. Pangan said in a text message.
The PSEi was moving flattish until the last hour of Wednesday’s trading. It opened at 6,971.9 and dipped to an intraday low of 6,970.49, before jumping in the last minute to close at its highest level for the session.
Cash remittances coursed through banks jumped by 9.3% to $2.601 billion in September from $2.379 billion a year ago, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Monday showed. This was the quickest growth in remittance inflows since 12.7% in April 2018.
Month on month, cash remittances also rose by 4.8% from $2.483 billion in August, when these dropped by an annual 4.1%.
Remittance inflows in the first nine months of the year reached $21.886 billion, slipping by 1.4% from $22.187 billion a year ago. The decline is slower than the 2% drop in remittances expected by the BSP this year.
“Investors remain optimistic that the economy will see a massive rebound in the fourth quarter. Several issues are now at their 2020 highs or higher as the sentiment on equities continues to improve,” AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun said in an e-mail.
“We may see some profit-taking toward the end of the week and maintain our forecast that the trend will continue sideways,” Mr. Mangun said.
Nearly all sectoral indices recorded gains at the end of Wednesday’s trading. Holding firms rose 139.23 points or 1.93% to 7,320.66; financials climbed 25.83 points or 1.92% to 1,369.44; property improved 32.46 points or 0.92% to 3,545.57; services added 8.14 points or 0.52% to 1,551.75; and industrials increased 27.98 points or 0.3% to 9,167.72. Mining and oil was the sole declining index, giving up 89.02 points or 1.08% to 8,081.75 at the end of session.
Some 12.34 billion issues valued at P10.93 billion switched hands on Wednesday, growing from the previous day’s 2.49 billion issues worth P10.25 billion.
Advancers bested decliners, 126 against 86, while 55 names ended unchanged.
Net outflows continued for a fourth straight day but declined to P375.18 million on Wednesday against P723.78 million the day prior.