The local stock market bounced back to a new record on Monday, or a few points away to hitting the 6,100-point mark as domestic and international trends remain fairly OK.

“The market continues to challenge the conviction of the bulls and test the patience of correction watchers. A promising domestic economy, an improving European situation, and a fair showing by US and global equities have kept the bears at bay,” Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said.

“At least up to this point, investors have seemingly set aside fundamental valuations and technical suggestions to keep on the long side of trades,” he added.

Jonas Ravelas, chief market strategist of Banco De Oro Unibank Inc., also said that benign inflation continues to support low interest rates and stable macro numbers continue to catch investors eyes pushing them to buy equities, thus pushing the stock index to new highs.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended Monday’s session in the green, going upward by 0.70 percent, or 42.15 points to 6,093.90, while the broader all-shares index went up by 0.53 percent, or 20.09 points to 3,837.14.

Calaycay said that selling pressures rose as the index broke through 6,100 at the morning session and even if the index managed to set a new intra-day record, profit takers failed to do the same as the market closed.

 “Overall, we can attribute this advance more to the lack of negative news than the presence of fresh positives,” he said.

Each of the sub-indices ended in the green as well with financials leading the charge, rising 1.53 percent,or 24.06 points to 1,599.10, followed by the property sector, which went up 1.48 percent, or 34.81 points to 2,381.35.

“Financials shares rose after Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas extended single borrower’s loan exemption to 2016,” Ravelas said.

“This allows local players to play on private public partnership projects like San Miguel Corp. focusing on infrastructure,” he added.

The rest of the sub-indices registered less than 1-percent increase. Mining and oil posted a
0.77-percent improvement, or 162.34 points to 21,275.19, while services climbed 0.45 percent, or 8.14 points to 1,809.58.

 Industrial was flat with a 0.13-percent gain, or 12.38 points to 9,230.84, while holding firms recorded a 0.21-percent increase or 11.29 points to 5,405.44.

Advancers won over losers, 94 to 71, while 44 shares were unchanged.

With the market clearly on an uptrend, Calaycay said that investors are cognizant of the fact that return on equities beat those from alternative investment instruments.

“With the BSP late last year indicating it may keep interest rates at historic lows, the attraction of risky assets, including equities, increases exponentially. The upcoming earnings cycle will be crucial to sustaining the market’s run,” he said.