PSEi firms up past 6,600

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The local stock barometer firmed up past 6,600 on Wednesday as investors factored in the deferral of the US Federal Reserve’s tapering of easy money to early next year.

Rising for the second straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 31.51 points or 0.48 percent to close at 6,635.11.  Gains, however, were capped by caution over the upcoming release of the US September jobs data, which is seen to give a clue on how soon the US Fed tapering will happen.

Dealers said for now, the US Fed factor had removed the overhang on equities at least for the rest of 2013.
The PSEi’s rise on Wednesday was led by the holding firm counter (+1.26 percent) while the financial, industrial and property counters likewise firmed up.  On the other hand, the services and mining/oil counters ended lower.
Value turnover amounted to P6.59 billion.  There were 77 advancers that edged out 66 decliners while 43 stocks were unchanged.
The day’s biggest PSEi gainers were AEV, SM Prime and Petron which all rose by over 3 percent while SM and Jollibee gained over 2 percent.  JG Summit, EDC and RLC, on the other hand, advanced by over 1 percent.

Meanwhile, among the index laggers were Philex. SMC, Semirara, DMCI, GTCAP, URC and Megaworld which all jumped by over 1 percent.  Shares of ICTSI, ALI and PLDT likewise declined.