Philippine shares rose moderately Monday, with the main index closing above the 6,400 level as investors weighed local and global cues.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed 29.34 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 6,406.13. The broader all shares index went up 7.37 points, or 0.19 percent, to end at 3,786.59.
Meanwhile, the peso closed at 55.81 against the U.S. dollar Monday, from 55.60 on Thursday.
Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., said investors are gearing up for the upcoming release of the latest U.S. inflation data, which will provide clues about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next policy move. The Fed is slated to meet next week.
Asian stocks also advanced Monday ahead of a new round of trade talks between the U.S. and China.
Locally, Limlingan said investors are also awaiting the release of the latest data on foreign direct investments.
Sectoral indices ended mixed. Services and holding firms both rose 1.15 percent. Financials also gained 0.061 percent.
On the other hand, mining and oil dropped 3.7 percent, while property and industrial declined 0.81 percent and 0.44 percent, respectively.
Value turnover reached P5.07 billion. Foreign investors were net sellers for the day, with outflows reaching P205 million.
Shares of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. rallied, closing 18.4 percent higher at P5.92 apiece. Shares of Monde Nissin Corp. dropped 1.53 percent to P7.10 each.
Asian stocks rallied Monday on hopes that a fresh round of China-US trade talks later in the day will ease tensions between the economic superpowers, while investors were also cheered by forecast-topping US jobs data.
The gains extended a run-up across global markets in recent weeks as fears about President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz subside and countries make deals with Washington. With AFP
All eyes are on London, where top officials from China and the United States are due to meet for more negotiations aimed at preserving a fragile truce agreed last month that slashed eye-watering tit-for-tat levies.
The talks come days after Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House.
They were helped by news that Beijing had on Saturday approved some applications for rare-earth exports, while aviation giant Boeing will start sending commercial jets to China for the first time since April.
The impact of the trade row was highlighted Monday in data showing Chinese exports to the United States sank more than 34 percent on-year in May and almost 13 percent from the previous month.
However shipments to other regions including the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations surged.
Separate data showed Chinese consumer prices fell in May for the fourth straight month.
Optimism that the two sides will make a breakthrough boosted Asian markets, with Hong Kong up more than one percent, while Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangkok, Taipei and Manila also advanced.
However, London, Paris and Frankfurt struggled.
The Asian gains followed a strong lead from Wall Street, where all three main indexes closed more than one percent higher after figures showing the world’s largest economy created a forecast-beating 139,000 jobs last month.
While the figures for the previous two months were revised down, the data indicated that the economy remained robust, and tempered worries sparked by Wednesday’s report by payroll firm ADP showing a big miss on private hiring.
Eyes will now turn to the Federal Reserve as it decides whether to lower interest rates, with many economists warning that Trump’s tariffs could reignite inflation, hit supply chains and drag on consumer sentiment.
“The May minutes and recent comments by several (policy board) members… suggest the Fed is highly attentive to the risk that tariffs will lead to a persistent inflation shock,” wrote analysts at Bank of America.
“Those risks could come into focus for markets by the fall.”
Michael Hewson at MCH Market Insights remained positive on the outlook for the US economy.
“For now, the US economy continues to look reasonably resilient although the recent ADP jobs report showed some evidence of a slowdown in May,” he said in a commentary.
“However on the whole there is little sign that the economy is on the cusp of an economic shock at the moment, despite the unpredictable nature of the current US administration.” With AFP
The peso closed at 55.81 against the US dollar on Monday from 55.60 on Thursday. With AFP
