Philippine stock index up on blue-chip buying
By Doris C. DumlaoPhilippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The local stocks index gained for a second session on Monday on selective buying of blue chips like SM Investments Corp. while more investors focused on penny stocks.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 13.5 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 5,383.22. Across the region, sentiment was mixed ahead of the third-quarter corporate earnings reporting season.
Value turnover amounted to P9.1 billion but excluding block transactions, turnover stood at P5.43 billion. There were 94 advancers versus 70 decliners while 43 stocks were unchanged.
SM (+3.9 percent), URC (+2.14 percent), RLC (+2.03 percent), Megaworld (+1.71 percent), BPI (+1.22 percent) and Metrobank (+1.05 percent) led the index higher. EDC, AGI and Philex also contributed to the day’s gains.
In the case of SM, tycoon Henry Sy’s conglomerate is among the beneficiaries of a consumer theme in the stock market. In a recent report, Citigroup upgraded its target price on SM from P785 to P915 per share.
But most of the trades in the market were focused on penny stocks like APM (+28 percent), EG (+48.48 percent) and Greenergy (+10.53 percent). Second-liner Bloomberry (+4.55 percent), which will be the first to open an integrated gaming facility in Pagcor City, also continued to gain.
APM, whose shares have sizzled in the last two weeks, was the day’s most actively traded stock. The company mandated Evercore Partners as financial adviser “to study and explore capital market and corporate structure options.”
On the other hand, there was profit-taking on other blue chips like AC (+1.84 percent), PLDT (+0.96 percent), SM Prime (-0.28 percent), Globe (-0.35 percent) and ICTSI (-3.98 percent). Security Bank, though not part of PSEi, also faltered.
Metrobank said local equities were expected to experience some technical rebound from last week’s slump. “However, the market is generally expected to trade sideways ahead of China’s third-quarter GDP figure to be released this Thursday. While caution is warranted, buying on dips is preferred, positioning ahead of third-quarter corporate earnings results,” Metrobank said.
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