New high: PSEi hits 25th record

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) has hit another all time high closing at 6,891.43 on Friday, April 12, on upbeat global markets.

The PSEi was up 0.87% or 59.69 points from 6,831.74 on Thursday, April 11.

The All Shares index was up 0.67% or 28.63 point to 4,299.20 at close. 

“Philippine market continued rally even with limited value traded today,” PSE president Hans Sicat said in his tweet.

A total of 4.59 billion shares worth P7.59 billion changed hands. There were 99 advancers, 54 decliners and 48 remain unchanged.

Foreign buying reached P4.24 billion and selling at P3.07 billion.  

The last all-time high was in March 27 when the index hit 6,847.47 points after the Philippines finally won its first investment grade rating from Fitch Ratings.  

The PSEi has booked 36 all-time high records in 2012. 

Analysts expect the PSEi to break into the 7,000-level in 2013.

Asian markets

Most Asian markets took a breather Friday at the end of a strong week for equities and the dollar, but sentiment was buoyed by another record day for Wall Street fueled by upbeat jobs data.

Dealers are keeping tabs on the currency markets as the dollar approaches the 100-yen level, not seen for 4 years, while the euro remained supported despite an announcement from Cyprus that the cost of its bailout had surged.

Regional markets have enjoyed a bright week, in line with a global advance, with the Bank of Japan’s promise of huge spending to fight deflation sending the yen tumbling and stocks soaring.

Soft inflation figures from China also tempered fears of monetary tightening from Beijing, which provided regional support.

US investors provided a positive lead after the Labor Department said new claims for unemployment benefits came in at 346,000 last week, below the forecast 365,000 and a sharp fall from the previous week.

On Wall Street the Dow climbed 0.42% and the S&P 500 rose 0.36%, both finishing at record highs for a second straight day. The tech-rich Nasdaq added 0.09%.

On foreign exchange markets the dollar hovered below the 100-yen mark, which it has not breached since April 2009.

The dollar bought 99.47 yen in afternoon Tokyo trade, compared with 99.73 yen in New York late Thursday. The greenback came within a whisker of the key marker Thursday, hitting 99.95 yen at one point.

The euro was at $1.3113 and 130.44 yen, compared with $1.3096 and 130.68 yen.

The European single currency enjoyed support despite renewed concerns over Cyprus, which said Thursday the cost of its EU-IMF rescue package had surged to 23 billion euros ($30 billion) from 17.5 billion euros, putting it back in danger of collapse.

The rise means Nicosia will now have to find 6.0 billion euros more than first quoted in an agreement reached on March 25 in order to secure an EU-IMF contribution of 10 billion euros.

Global markets were rocked last month after Cyprus said it would tax all deposits to find the matching cash. While that was changed to protect small savers, those with more than 100,000 euros will still be hit.

A source close to talks in Cyprus said its financing needs had “evolved”.

“Notably, while the restructuring of the financial sector will now be very largely financed through private means, the projected fiscal needs of the state have increased as a result of the deeper-than-expected recession,” the source said.

Eyes are also on the stand-off between North Korea and South Korea and the United States after Pyongyang threatened a thermo-nuclear war.

US President Barack Obama urged the North to end its “belligerent approach” as US officials sought to downplay a leaked intelligence report suggesting Pyongyang could fire a nuclear-tipped missile.

Oil prices were mixed, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, down 32 cents to $93.19 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gaining a cent to $104.28 in the afternoon.

Gold was at $1,562.60 an ounce at 0605 GMT compared with $1,558.48 late on Thursday. – Rappler.com and Agence France Presse