The lobby of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Taguig City, Sept. 30, 2020. — REUTERS

PHILIPPINE SHARES recovered on Monday, buoyed by bargain hunting and expectations that headline inflation slowed last month.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 0.65% or 39.22 points to 6,037.19, while the broader all shares index went up by 0.89% or 32 points to 3,620.12.

“The local market bounced back after two straight days of losses as investors hunted for bargains, backed by optimistic expectations towards the Philippines’ February inflation,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message.

“Satisfactory fourth quarter and full-year 2024 corporate results also helped in pushing the market higher this Monday. Gains were trimmed in the final minutes, however, as investors maintained a cautious stance amid lingering uncertainties abroad,” he added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority is set to release February inflation data on Wednesday, March 5.

Headline inflation likely slowed in February as prices of rice and other key commodities declined, analysts said.

A BusinessWorld poll of 18 analysts yielded a median estimate of 2.6% for the February consumer price index, well within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2.2%-3% forecast for the month.

If realized, February inflation would be slower than the 2.9% in January and the 3.4% clip in the same month in 2023. This would also be the slowest pace in four months or since the 2.3% recorded in October.

“Philippine shares made modest gains following the sentiment of regional markets and with the quarterly MSCI rebalancing concluding last week,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan added in a Viber message.

Majority of sectoral indices closed higher on Monday. Holding firms increased by 2.89% or 143.82 points to 5,105.22; mining and oil went up by 1.14% or 88.75 points to 7,837.28; property rose by 0.92% or 19.95 points to 2,170.47; and financials climbed by 0.29% or 6.79 points to 2,281.46.

Meanwhile, services dropped by 1.38% or 27.04 points to 1,928.50 and industrials went down by 0.74% or 64.18 points to 8,589.18.

“Bloomberry Resorts Corp. was the top index gainer, jumping 5.64% to P3.37. Monde Nissin Corp. was the main index laggard, plunging 7.15% to P7.01,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Value turnover went down to P10.45 billion on Monday with 1.62 billion issues traded from the P20.63 billion with 1.11 billion shares exchanged on Friday.

Decliners outnumbered advancers, 120 versus 75, while 55 names were unchanged.

Net foreign buying stood at P293.79 million on Monday versus the P3.43 billion in net foreign outflows recorded on Friday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave