Stocks climb on positive data, Wall Street’s rise

Philippine stocks rebounded on Tuesday as sentiment was boosted by data showing poverty incidence in the country declined last year and US markets’ positive performance overnight.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.61% or 41.07 points to end at 6,753.12 on Tuesday, while the broader all shares index gained by 1.06% or 38.50 points to close at 3,638.48.

“The local market rose as investors digested President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s latest State of the Nation Address (SONA) this Monday. Also, the improvement in the country’s poverty incidence level was cheered by many,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research and Engagement Officer Mikhail Philippe Q. Plopenio said in a Viber message.

In his SONA, Mr. Marcos announced a total ban on all offshore gaming operations in the Philippines, saying these have been linked to illegal activities including money laundering and financial scams.

Meanwhile, about 17.54 million Filipinos were living in poverty in 2023, significantly lower than the nearly 20 million in 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.

Based on preliminary results of the PSA’s Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the poverty incidence among the population fell to 15.5% from the 18.1% estimate in 2021.

The latest figure is lower than the government’s development target for poverty incidence in 2023 at 16-16.4% under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

“Philippine shares followed Wall Street’s positive sentiment, with technology stocks rebounding from last week’s sell-off,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan added in a Viber message.

Wall Street’s three benchmarks ended higher on Monday as investors returned to megacap growth stocks, helping both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite recover from their worst weekly performance since April, Reuters reported.

The S&P 500 gained 59.41 points or 1.08% at 5,564.41 points, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 280.63 points or 1.58% to 18,007.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 127.91 points or 0.32% to 40,415.44.

Back home, majority of sectoral indices closed higher. Holding firms increased by 1.66% or 95.67 points to 5,842.49; services went up by 1.51% or 30.33 points to 2,026.51; industrials climbed by 0.64% or 58.79 points to 9,113.28; and mining and oil rose by 0.12% or 11.10 points to 8,728.94.

Meanwhile, property dropped by 1.62% or 44.24 points to 2,681.82, and financials went down by 0.17% or 3.61 points to 2,083.18.

Value turnover declined to PHP 5.49 billion on Tuesday with 401.94 million shares changing hands from the PHP 6.23 billion with 531.62 million issues traded on Monday.

Market breadth was negative as decliners outnumbered advancers, 93 to 67, while 74 names closed unchanged.

Net foreign buying went down to PHP 442.93 million on Tuesday from PHP 1.01 billion on Monday. — R.M.D. Ochave with Reuters