The main index reached a new all-time intra-day high of 7,530.41.
As of 12:00 noon, the PSEi stood at 7,528.49, up 129.49 points or 1.75 percent.
While some may say the stock market is feeling the "Pope Francis" effect ahead of his visit to Manila, analysts are attributing the euphoria to the continuing plunge in oil prices.
"Lower oil prices help ease inflation concerns… With this trend, 2015 inflation could be at 2.5%, this means more leg room for monetary policy (no interest rate hike in 1st half of 2015)," BDO analyst Jonas Ravelas said.
Reuters reported oil tumbled 5 percent to near six-year lows before recovering ground on Tuesday, and Brent briefly traded at par to U.S. crude for the first time in three months as some traders moved to take advantage of ample storage space in the United States.
Traders were searching to store the glut of oil, which has knocked prices down 60 percent in the last six months. So far this week, Brent has lost 7 percent and U.S. crude 5 percent.
Brent settled down 84 cents at $46.59 a barrel, after falling to $45.19, its lowest since March 2009.
U.S. crude closed down 18 cents at $45.89, after hitting an April 2009 low of $44.20.
R.S. Lim & Co. president and CEO Ali Yu said lower oil prices are good for listed companies, especially in the retail and industrial sectors.
Nickel Asia
Meanwhile, Nickel Asia traded at an all-time high on Wednesday morning, after the company reported its 2014 shipments breached its targets.
Nickel Asia shares jump as much as 2.5 percent to a record high of P32.85 in early trades. The company said nickel ores shipped and delivered from the company's four operating mines reached 17.9 million wet metric tonnes (WMT) in 2014, exceeding the target of 17 million WMT.
Nickel Asia, the Philippines' biggest nickel miner, is partly owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd of Japan. - With Michelle Ong, ANC and Reuters
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
