Philippine stocks on the upswing

Local stocks on Tuesday rose anew, bringing the main index back to the 6,700 due to fresh optimism on prospective earnings by index heavyweight PLDT alongside buoyant regional property markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange recouped 74.16 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 6,711.72. The index is now nearing the all-time high of 6,721.45 recorded on Feb 28.

“This was driven by strong performance of blue chips issues like PLDT and Ayala Corp.,” said Asiasec Equities chief strategist Manny Cruz.

The analyst said the market took its cue from PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan’s pronouncements on Tuesday about the telco’s earnings.

“After a period of underperformance, we think PLDT is well-positioned in the coming years,” Cruz said.

All counters on Tuesday wound up in positive territory led by holding firms (+1.45 percent). Value turnover was heavy at P12.67 billion. There were 84 advancers and 70 decliners, while 56 stocks were unchanged.

A rebound by Lopez stocks FGEN (+4.13 percent) and EDC (+2.05 percent) helped perk up the index, alongside sharp gains eked out by SMDC (+8.83 percent), Ayala Corp. (+3.78 percent), AGI (+3.21 percent), Megaworld (+3.17 percent) and URC (+2.71 percent).

Across the region, stock markets were mostly higher as investors welcomed China’s spending priorities announced during its annual congress. China committed that deficit spending would meet a growth target this year of 7.5 percent while it promised to relax its credit supply.—Doris C. Dumlao