Banks, holdings firms, property issues lift PSEi

MANILA, Philippines–The local stock barometer swung back to positive territory on Tuesday after a bout of profit-taking the previous day.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 8.19 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 7,828.48, shored up by modest gains of the financial, holding firm, services and property counters. The industrial and mining/oil counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P9.08 billion. There were 97 advancers that beat 71 decliners while 50 stocks were unchanged.

Dealers said ample liquidity was keeping demand for stocks buoyant. Trading sentiment across regional markets was mixed.

MPIC led the day’s PSEi gainers, rebounding 4.67 percent after the previous days’ selldown arising from Maynilad’s water tariff jitters.

AC and AGI also contributed to the day’s gain, both rising by over 1 percent. Metrobank, BPI, PLDT and SM Prime also firmed up.

Many of the actively traded stocks were not part of the PSEi. Among the notable gainers were Puregold (+3.19 percent), DNL (+2.98 percent) as well as RRHI and FNI, which both gained more than 1 percent.  Security Bank was up by 0.83 percent.—Doris C. Dumlao