PSEi firms up, GTCAP joins MSCI global index

THE LOCAL stock barometer climbed back to the 7,800 level on Wednesday led by Ty-led conglomerate GT Capital Holdings’ which will debut on the MSCI global index.

Firming up for the third straight session, the Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 13.8 points or 0.18 percent to close at 7,808.35.

Apart from GTCAP which rose by 7.21 percent on news of its inclusion into the MSCI global index, another notable gainer is Globe Telecom, which surged by 5.45 percent after reporting a 43-percent growth in first quarter net profit to P4.2 billion.

Overall, the PSEi’s gains were led by the industrial, holding firm, services and mining/oil counters while the financial and property counters slipped.

Value turnover amounted to P8.5 billion. Despite the PSEi’s rise, the broader market was selective. There were 76 advancers which were edged out by 108 decliners while 42 shares were unchanged.

URC gained by 2.23 percent while BDO was likewise up by 1.35 percent. PLDT also contributed modest gains for the day.

Outside of the PSEi, Nickel Asia (+3.88 percent) and PLC (+4.24 percent) gained in heavy trade. PLC was among those which will be added to MSCI’s small cap index alongside SSI Group (+0.96 percent) and Philweb (+5.98 percent) while RFM (-0.4 percent) will be excluded.

On the other hand, EDC continued to decline (-1.52 percent) while Metrobank also fell by 1.5 percent. Bloomberry, SMIC, FGEN, RLC and SM Prime also slipped.

Non-PSEi stocks Lopez and RRHI were both down by over 2 percent.

Effective at the close of May 29 this year, GT Capital will be added to the closely tracked MSCI global index, boosting appetite for the conglomerate this early.