Stocks end higher

Local stock prices were mostly higher Monday on news of the recommissioning of one unit of Bacman geothermal plant as well as expectations of further cuts in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ special deposit accounts (SDA) rates.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 5.08 points or 0.08 percent to close at 6,732.22. Across the region, trading was mostly sluggish partly due to the weak jobs report in the United States.

In the local market, news that EDC has recommissioned Unit 2 of the Bacman geothermal plant at the full capacity of 55 MW perked up Lopez-led index stocks EDC (+1.9 percent) and FGEN (+1.46 percent).

The index was also boosted by the gains of Petron (+3.49 percent) and BDO (+2.04 percent). Bloomberry, Philex, Globe, Meralco, BPI, San Miguel Corp., SMIC, URC, Metrobank, AGI and MWC also contributed to the PSEi’s increase.

On the other hand, the day’s gains were tempered by the decline of index heavyweight PLDT (-1.8 percent). Also among the index decliners were ICTSI, MPIC, DMCI, SM Prime, AC, AEV and RLC.

Dealers said expectations that the BSP would slash SDA rates further as early as its next meeting on April 25 given the benign March inflation rate spurred demand for equities from yield-seeking investors. The rate on SDA—the mechanism by which BSP borrows from a broader market—has been slashed by 100 basis points so far this year to 2.5 percent.

By counter, the financial, industrial and mining/oil counters kept the index afloat while the holding firms, services and property counters ended in the red.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.81 billion. There were 77 advancers against 78 decliners while 45 stocks were unchanged. Doris C. Dumlao