Philippine stocks move back to 5,300, buoyed by regional sentiment

Photo taken from pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines — Most local stocks resumed trading on an upbeat mood on Wednesday, lifting the main index back to the 5,300-mark, as investors tracked buoyant regional sentiment.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 24.51 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 5,308.67, aided by the property counter, which jumped by 2.88 percent.

Across the region, stock markets were mostly higher as investors pinned their hopes on further stimuli from the US and Europe.

Trading was mixed across local markets, with the property counter making up for the slack in industrial, holding firm and mining/oil counters. The financial and services counters were also mostly higher.

Value turnover amounted to P6.11 billion. There were 71 advancers versus 80 decliners, while 55 stocks were unchanged.

The market was led higher by blue chips Ayala Land (+5percent), PLDT (+1percent), Megaworld (+3.6percent), BPI (+3.3percent), AGI (+2.3percent) and Metro Pacific Investments (+2.17 percent).

Among non-index stocks, a notable gainer was Tanduay, which surged by 12.87 percent.

Eagle Equities Inc. president Joseph Roxas said there could be some investors reallocating some funds from other conglomerates to Tanduay, following the announcement of the consolidation of Lucio Tan assets into this vehicle.

Conglomerates SMIC and Ayala Corp. were down by 3.56 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Roxas said the strong performance of property stocks could be a play on high-rise residential development in the aftermath of another great flood in Metro Manila.

But Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at the Campos Lanuza & Co., said Wednesday’s movements might have been technical in nature. “Megaworld has been strengthening in the past few weeks. I would imagine though that there would be some concerns over the malls because of the floods. But then SM, SM Prime, RLC,ALI and FLI performances are mixed,” Lacson said.

“Maybe over the next couple of days, investors will be able to digest the impact of the floods,” he said.