Index continues bull run on strong buying

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s benchmark stock index surged yesterday to its 10th record close this year, shielding itself from negative factors that dampened markets abroad.

The local benchmark index rose 0.70 percent or 54.39 points to record its 10th all-time high close this year and its third for this month alone at 7,782.57.

Aside from topping its previous 7,728.18 record close posted last Friday, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) also shattered its previous all-time intraday high of 7,738.12 by recording 7,786.78.

“The momentum is really there and there continues to be an outflow of good stories in the Philippines encouraging investors to really continue to buy the market. The system is really very liquid given the earnings and the prospects of most companies. Investors continue to flock into the market,” said Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Finance Inc.

Fueling Monday’s rally were optimism in local corporate earnings as well as expectations that monetary authorities will keep key policy rates steady when they meet this Thursday.

“Asian shares are down but the Philippines continue to defy the wave of pessimism. That is because there is a lot of good stories locally,” Del Castillo said.

Asian stocks were generally down Monday behind the disappointing outcome of Chinese trade figures for January.

Wall Street indexes also ended lower last Friday, with the Nasdaq slipping 0.43 percent while the Dow and the S&P dropping 0.34 percent each.