The PSEi surged 1.8 percent, or 134.2 points, to 7,602.11 by the noontime close, surpassing the 7,500 psychological barrier that buyers have struggled to break for the past four years.
“Risk appetite is definitely strong, following the string of better-than-expected economic indicators both here and abroad,” Alfred Benjamin R. Garcia, research head at AP Securities Inc., told InsiderPH on Monday.
“We’re on our 26th consecutive day of net foreign buying, and year-to-date flows turned positive last week. Evidently, we are finally catching some of that foreign money that’s making its way out of the United States in search of better yields,” he added.
Foreign buying
Garcia said the past three weeks were the strongest foreign buying streak since the 27-day period from Jan 21 until March 8 this year.
Foreign investors have reversed years of selling Philippine stocks, becoming net buyers with total purchases amounting to about P2 billion since the start of 2024.
Net foreign buying as of Monday morning amounted to P725.71 million.
Blue chips gain ground
Top traded stocks on Monday were Ayala Corp., International Container Terminal Services Inc., Jollibee Foods Corp., Puregold Price Club, and BDO Unibank.
About 670 million shares worth P3.37 billion changed hands on Monday morning, data from the stock exchange showed.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.