Wall St rally boosts Philippine stocks

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices climbed yesterday on the back of Wall St.’s positive performance last week, analysts said.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 63.38 points, or 0.91 percent, to finish at 6,996.19, while the broader All Shares index gained 32.12 points or 0.80 percent to close at 4,033.34.

All other indexes stayed in positive territory, led by biggest gainers, the industrial and holding firms index.

Value turnover reached P5.30 billion as decliners edged out advancers, 86 to 77 while 43 stocks were left unchanged.

Analysts said Philippine stocks and other Asian stocks were up yesterday following Wall Street’s strong gains last week.

US stocks rose last week, buoyed by retailers and technology companies as jittery investors have calmed down after the Paris attacks two weeks ago.

Thus, on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5 percent while the Standard & Poor’s 500 added 0.4 percent.

Likewise, the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.6 percent.

Technology companies led by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, went up while retailers such as Nike also posted gains.

Investors have also already taken into account the possibility the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its December meeting on the back of a growing US economy.