PSEi back above 7,200

The local stock barometer rallied back to the 7,200 mark on Wednesday, riding on buoyant Wall Street sentiment arising from upbeat US consumer confidence and housing data.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped 115.35 points, or 1.62 percent, to close at 7,228.57, rising for the second straight session. A string of favorable US economic data encouraged investors to reenter the market after a recent bout of profit-taking.

All counters ended in positive territory but the day’s upswing benefited the mining/oil counter (+4.86 percent) the most. The new revenue-sharing scheme governing the sector is expected to be submitted to the newly elected Congress in July.

Value turnover amounted to P9.64 billion. There were 114 advancers that overwhelmed 49 decliners while 40 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s biggest gainers among index stocks were Jollibee (+9.42 percent), Globe (+6.08 percent) and AEV (+5.02 percent).

Benefiting from election spending, Jollibee’s first-quarter core income of P895 million (+33 percent year on year) was much higher than market expectations. Globe announced on Tuesday a network sharing deal with ABS-CBN while AEV disclosed Wednesday a partnership with a major construction firm for a bulk water supply project in Davao City.—Doris C. Dumlao