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Philippines: Local shares up as vaccine optimism offsets virus fears
MANILA, Philippines — Local shares finished in the green on Thursday, as investors’ optimism on vaccination rates trump concerns on the country’s elevated virus caseload.
The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.72% to close at 6,834.66. The broader All Shares index, meanwhile, inched up 0.40%.
All sub-indices ended in the positive territory, with mining and oil stocks being the biggest gainers after increasing 2.11%.
“Investors’ bullishness may be attributed to their focus on improving vaccination rates even against a backdrop of elevated daily new COVID-19 case counts, and lackluster manufacturing and bank lending data,” Rastine Mercado, research director at China Bank Securities, said in a commentary.
Inoculations, which are crucial to more easing of restrictions, have gone up as vaccine stocks were replenished in the past week. So far, 12.64% of the Philippines’ adult population has been fully vaccinated.
Local health authorities on Thursday reported 16,621 more coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total count to 2,020,484.
As it is, Asian markets were mixed Thursday, with fresh fears about China’s crackdown on tech firms offsetting optimism about the global recovery outlook and easing Covid fears.
Sentiment was given a jolt after news emerged that Chinese regulators had summoned ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and ten other car platforms to give them a dressing down in the latest move against tech firms it sees as gaining too much power.
The news rattled investors. Hong Kong fluctuated, closing up but briefly falling into negative territory after rising more than one percent earlier in the day. Meituan remained in the green.
The Hang Seng Index as well as Shanghai’s composite index had been supported by the People’s Bank of China’s decision to provide tens of billions of dollars in low-cost funding to lenders to help them offer more support to small and medium-sized companies.
Tokyo, Shanghai, Wellington, Mumbai and Bangkok were also up but Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Jakarta fell.
For now investors are also looking past a spike in infections from the coronavirus Delta variant, which has forced some countries to impose lockdowns, and instead focus on the long-term recovery outlook.
“The market is fading Covid more as a risk in terms of really hampering economic activity,” Tracie McMillion, at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, told Bloomberg Television.
At home, foreign investors sold P69.8 million more shares than they bought in the stock market. A total of 1.52 billion shares, valued at P6.9 billion, were traded on Thursday.
“Given today’s move, we may see the index attempting to push higher again tomorrow, or move sideways between the 6,750-6,850 level,” ChinaBank’s Mercado said. — with a report from AFP
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/09/02/2124368/local-shares-vaccine-optimism-offsets-virus-fears