Property stocks lift Philippine market

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stocks gained on Monday on the back of a property play and quarter-end window-dressing, allowing the main index to firm up after a four-day decline and return to the 5,300 level.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 33.54 points, or 0.63 percent, to close at 5,325.60, again nearing the all-time intraday high of 5,400 seen in early July.

Most counters gained, led by the property sub-index (+1.6 percent) due to the rise of stocks like Ayala Land (+2.08 percent), SM Prime (+3.18 percent) and Megaworld (+0.9 percent). FLI (+1.4 percent), though not part of the PSEi, also helped buoy the property counter. The monetary easing sanctioned by major central banks around the world is seen keeping interest rates low, thus favoring the property counter.

Value turnover amounted to P4.22 billion. There were 79 advancers against 68 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged.

Other outperformers for the day were BDO (+3.37 percent), Jollibee (+2 percent), AGI (+1.94 percent), Globe Telecom (+1.06 percent) and MPI (+0.97 percent). Philex Mining also rebounded by 0.94 percent.

Investors also bought up stocks outside the PSEi such as Security Bank (+1.07 percent), Puregold (+1.33 percent), EastWest Bank (+4.59 percent) and Union Bank (+0.19 percent).

On the other hand, Monday’s index gains were tempered by the decline of SMIC, EDC, PLDT, BPI and RLC. First Holdings also closed lower in heavy trade.

Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. noted in its daily research that Wall Street closed mostly lower on Friday, erasing earlier gains on optimism that Spain might seek a bailout. “Weakness in global economies abroad will still weigh on investor psyche. On the local front, the positive catalyst would be the quarter-end window-dressing,” the research said.—Doris C. Dumlao