Stocks climb as market awaits more Q1 results

STOCKS went up on Monday as investors await the release of more first-quarter corporate financial reports and as the peso continued to rebound against the dollar after hitting multi-month lows last week.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 77.94 points or 1.19% to close at 6,598.38 on Monday, while the broader all shares index went up by 21.83 points or 0.62% to 3,510.09.

“The local bourse jumped by 77.94 points to 6,598.38 in anticipation of first quarter earnings. A positive spillover from Wall Street last Friday also helped lift the bourse,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Analyst Claire T. Alviar said in a Viber message.

“Moreover, the DBCC’s (Development Budget Coordination Committee) decision to maintain its economic growth target for the year also helped bolster market sentiment,” Ms. Alviar added.

The DBCC on Monday maintained its gross domestic product growth targets at 6%-7% for 2023 and 6.5%-8% for 2024 to 2028.

“The local bourse ended in the green following the sharp recovery of the peso against the dollar, which is now back below the 56 level,” Unicapital Securities, Inc. Senior Equity Research Analyst Carlos Angelo O. Temporal said in a Viber message.

The peso closed at PHP 55.77 versus the dollar on Monday, rising by 25 centavos from PHP 56.02 on April 20.

Philippine financial markets were closed on Friday, April 21, for a nonworking day for Eid al-Fitr.

“The robust first-quarter earnings of the two big banks released last week have also provided further uplift to the index, as evidenced by the significant 3.49% upturn in the banking sector,” Mr. Temporal added.

Last week, BDO Unibank, Inc. said it saw its attributable net income grow by 40.44% year on year to PHP 16.528 billion in the first quarter.

Bank of the Philippine Islands also reported last week that its net profit rose by 52% to PHP 12.1 billion in the January-March period.

The majority of sectoral indices went up on Monday, except for services, which declined by 3.70 points or 0.23% to 1,607.78, and mining and oil, which fell by 19.39 points or 0.18% to 10,621.91.

Meanwhile, financials rose by 64.34 points or 3.48% to 1,909.60; property went up by 30.56 points or 1.13% to 2,725.94; holding firms increased by 31.78 points or 0.5% to 6,350.31; and industrials climbed by 27.30 points or 0.29% to 9,365.14.

Value turnover went down to PHP 5.34 billion on Monday with 807.42 million shares changing hands from the PHP 3.82 billion with 583.91 million issues traded on April 20.

Decliners narrowly outnumbered advancers, 96 versus 94, while 47 names closed unchanged.

Net foreign buying increased to PHP 822.04 million on Monday from PHP 508.16 million on Thursday. — By A.H. Halili