Investors' 'vote of confidence' sends benchmark index to new all-time high
GMA News
Local listed equities continued to explore uncharted territory Friday as the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed the trading week at another all-time high of 5,145.89 points by rising 2.3 percent or 114.11 points—its largest growth rate since Feb. 17 at 114.14.
“It appears that as a general trend, the equities market is being rewarded by investors with a huge vote of confidence. Our market continues to uncover new territories and we hope this influences trading activity and redounds to new issuances,” PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Hans B. Sicat said.
The market rode a wave of investor confidence that swept through Asian markets after the United States released new upbeat economic data.
U.S. jobless benefits claims fell to a four-year low last week, while the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State general business conditions index hit its highest since June 2010 last month. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's business activity index also showed manufacturing kept growing in the region this month.
Asian shares edged higher on Friday while the dollar took a breather as its recent broad rally spurred some profit taking, with a fresh batch of encouraging U.S. economic data further underpinning investor sentiment.
The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index was up 0.1 percent, for a weekly gain of nearly 1 percent. The index has risen 13.7 percent so far this year, recovering three-quarters of an 18 percent loss posted last year.
Japan's Nikkei steadied and held near an 8-month high reached on Thursday. The benchmark is up nearly 20 percent this year, reclaiming all of last year's 17 percent drop.
Analysts say the rebound is being driven mostly by investors buying back assets which they sold heavily last year when concerns were intensifying over the euro zone's debt crisis spinning out of control and hurting global growth.
"The market is still going through a relief rally more than chasing a new trend on global growth," Barclays Capital analysts said.
"We are getting into profit-taking territory," they added.
Sentiment has improved since then on signs of stronger U.S. growth, after Greece secured a second international bailout fund and as capital conditions improved at big U.S. banks. Fears of another global financial crisis also have eased substantially as central banks took aggressive measures to flood the system with ample cash.
World stocks held near the previous day's 7-1/2 month high on Friday and crude oil rebounded, sticking with a rally in riskier markets this week due to robust economic data from both sides of the Atlantic.
U.S. shares gained on Thursday, with the S&P 500 closing above 1,400 for the first time since 2008, partly driven by strong regional manufacturing data.
"Investors risk aversion has fallen dramatically since November mainly due to the positive impact of the two successive long-term refinancing operations of the European Central Bank," Olivier Huet, fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild, which manages a total of 12.4 billion euros, said.
"Fears that a credit crunch would have disastrous effects on the economy have evaporated," Huet added. — with Reuters/ELR, GMA News
“It appears that as a general trend, the equities market is being rewarded by investors with a huge vote of confidence. Our market continues to uncover new territories and we hope this influences trading activity and redounds to new issuances,” PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Hans B. Sicat said.
The market rode a wave of investor confidence that swept through Asian markets after the United States released new upbeat economic data.
U.S. jobless benefits claims fell to a four-year low last week, while the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State general business conditions index hit its highest since June 2010 last month. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's business activity index also showed manufacturing kept growing in the region this month.
Asian shares edged higher on Friday while the dollar took a breather as its recent broad rally spurred some profit taking, with a fresh batch of encouraging U.S. economic data further underpinning investor sentiment.
The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index was up 0.1 percent, for a weekly gain of nearly 1 percent. The index has risen 13.7 percent so far this year, recovering three-quarters of an 18 percent loss posted last year.
Japan's Nikkei steadied and held near an 8-month high reached on Thursday. The benchmark is up nearly 20 percent this year, reclaiming all of last year's 17 percent drop.
Analysts say the rebound is being driven mostly by investors buying back assets which they sold heavily last year when concerns were intensifying over the euro zone's debt crisis spinning out of control and hurting global growth.
"The market is still going through a relief rally more than chasing a new trend on global growth," Barclays Capital analysts said.
"We are getting into profit-taking territory," they added.
Sentiment has improved since then on signs of stronger U.S. growth, after Greece secured a second international bailout fund and as capital conditions improved at big U.S. banks. Fears of another global financial crisis also have eased substantially as central banks took aggressive measures to flood the system with ample cash.
World stocks held near the previous day's 7-1/2 month high on Friday and crude oil rebounded, sticking with a rally in riskier markets this week due to robust economic data from both sides of the Atlantic.
U.S. shares gained on Thursday, with the S&P 500 closing above 1,400 for the first time since 2008, partly driven by strong regional manufacturing data.
"Investors risk aversion has fallen dramatically since November mainly due to the positive impact of the two successive long-term refinancing operations of the European Central Bank," Olivier Huet, fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild, which manages a total of 12.4 billion euros, said.
"Fears that a credit crunch would have disastrous effects on the economy have evaporated," Huet added. — with Reuters/ELR, GMA News
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