PH shares ride buoyant US markets

The local stock barometer rallied back to the 6,400 mark on Wednesday, riding buoyant US markets while shrugging off jitters over President Marcos’ latest tariff deal with US President Donald Trump.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) racked up 106.56 points or 1.68 percent to close at 6,462.25.

The All Shares Index likewise advanced by 50.15 points or 1.33 percent to close at 3,807.35.

“It’s just following the US market,” said COL Financial chief strategist April Lee-Tan, referring to the 179.37-point gain eked out by the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight.

“Among the index stocks, you have heavyweights like ICTSI (+6.91 percent), BDO (+2.15 percent), Ayala Corp. (+2.2 percent) and SM Investments (+1.57 percent) rallying,” she said.

Trump’s announcement of a 19-percent US tariff on Philippine goods — which came as a disappointment to some analysts, as it was still higher than the 17 percent rate announced in April — did not spoil the day’s upswing. This was even as some economists expressed concern about a lop-sided deal.

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“The US tariff just puts us on equal footing with our Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) peers, which means no relative loss of competitiveness,” said Jose Mari Lacson, head of macro and sustainability research at ATR Asset Management.

“The zero Philippine tariff on US goods may be beneficial for consumers, but it still is a loss of protection for industries long protected by those tariffs. Having said that, the Philippines is primarily a services-driven economy. This means less effect of the zero tariffs on most of our growth sectors,” Lacson said.