PSEi tops 3,800, closes at 35-mo. high on bank lending

The Philippine Stock Exchange index Wednesday breached the 3,800 mark – an important psychological resistance level – fueled by financials after the central bank reported Tuesday that bank lending grew 11.7 percent in July. That was the year-end target for the market, said Juan Carlos Garcia, an analyst of 2Trade Asia. The fact that 3,800 was breached this third quarter could only mean that it is good. The PSEi rose 29.45 points or 0.78 percent to close at 3,804.73, a 35-month high since it closed at 3,824.20 on Oct. 9, 2007. More than 2.111 billion shares valued at P6.264 billion changed hands. The sentiment is bullish, "that [the Philippines] is driving toward a strong economy," Garcia said. The Philippine situation is helped by the perception that world markets, particularly Wall Street and its counterparts in Europe, are suffering from fears that the European debt crisis will worsen. Speculations are rife that foreign fund managers are either cutting losses or cashing in on gains from their US and European positions, and channeling the funds to Southeast Asian markets. "You could speculate on that, because markets are basically driven by speculation," Garcia said. —VS, GMANews.TV