Stocks resume upswing trend

pse.com.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines–Local stocks resumed their upswing on Friday as investors took heart from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s softer stance on foreign ownership and improved outlook on the global economy.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 33.18 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 6,051.75.

The counters that benefited most were the mining/oil (+2.13 percent) and services counters (+1.46 percent). Only the property counter (-1.13 percent) ended in the red.

Value turnover was heavy at P9.43 billion. There were 116 advancers that edged out 52 decliners while 42 stocks were unchanged.

“The market volume of P9.4 billion can be attributed to strong foreign buying. We may look forward to overall new highs,” said Ramon Garcia, president of brokerage RTG & Co.

Index heavyweight PLDT surged by 1.97 percent on news that the SEC was no longer keen on imposing a 60-40 percent local-foreign ownership requirement on each class of shares in partly nationalized industries like utilities.

Other index gainers were SMC, AEV, Metrobank, FGEN, Megaworld, Meralco, MWC, BPI and SMDC.

On the other hand, property stocks like ALI, RLC and SM Prime fell alongside DMCI, MPI and JG Summit.