PSEi hits fresh all-time high as overseas markets rally

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) surged by more than 1 percent to hit fresh all-time highs on Thursday, riding on the rally of overseas markets.

The main PSEi jumped by 91.03 points or 1.13 percent to 8,144.91. This is the highest on record, breaking the previous record of 8,127.48 on April 10, 2015.

The bellwether index also hit a fresh all-time intraday high on Thursday at 8,169.64, surpassing the previous record of 8,136.97 on April 7, 2015.

Meanwhile, the broader All Shares climbed 39.56 points or 0.83 percent to 4,815.91.

"We're getting affected by the strength of the world markets. There's not really much catalysts on the market," Miko S. Sayo, trader at AP Securities Inc., said in a phone interview.

This comes after the S&P 500, Dow Jones industrials, and Nasdaq Composite all marked record finishes on Wednesday, after investors' concerns about North Korean tensions and the impact of Hurricane Irma eased.

"US stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, notching another record high, as a gain in the energy sector offset losses in tech," Luis Limlingan, head of Sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a separate text message.

With this, the local market was among the highest in the region on Thursday, as other Asian stocks consolidated after touching their highest in a decade the previous day.

"I hope it's not another one of those new highs tapos bababa tayo. This one is really a breakout," AP's Sayo said.

Looking forward, Summit Securities Inc. president Harry G. Liu said the market will be looking at economic fundamentals to buoy it further upward.

"The tax reform, the Marawi developments, infrastructure projects, these are all coming in before the year-end. These are the things that we've all been talking about," he said in a separate phone call.

Foreign funds bought P3.785 billion of shares during the session and sold P3.885 billion for a net selling position of P99.812 million.

More than 1.261 billion shares, valued at P8.447 billion, changed hands. Winners led losers, 111 to 85, and 62 issues were unchanged. — BM, GMA News