The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 22.42 points or 0.38 percent to close at 5,997.04. The main index, however, is still struggling to hurdle the 6,000-mark.
All counters gained as last week’s sell-off attracted some bargain-hunting.
Value turnover was still thin at P5.4 billion. There were 89 advancers that outnumbered 53 decliners while 32 stocks were unchanged.
In a research note, local stock brokerage DA Market Securities said the PSEi had support at 5,680, near the recent lows of 5,678 (June) and 5,562 (August).
“On a five-year chart, major support remains at the 5,219 level. These levels present better areas of support and buying opportunity. Money management remains key. It must be noted that the PSEI remains to be in an intermediate downtrend (since late May) amid a five- year uptrend (since March 2009),” DA Market said.
The day’s biggest PSEi gainers were AP, DMCI and Meralco, which all firmed by over 2 percent while URC, FGEN, AGI and SMIC also advanced by over 1 percent. RLC, AC and BDO also contributed modest gains.
On the other hand, the day’s biggest decliners was MWC (-2.15 percent) while Petron and MPI both fell by over 1 percent. The market is cautiously awaiting water regulators’ decision on a consumer complaint against the two private concessionaires MWC and Maynilad, an operating unit of MPI.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were mostly higher led by China and Japan. Shanghai’s CSI rose by over 3 percent as of the local market’s closing time on news that China’s exports had grown faster than anticipated and also in anticipation of fresh measures allowing bank recapitalization in the mainland. Japan’s Nikkei225 likewise jumped by 2.48 percent on news that Tokyo was selected as the venue for the Summer Olympics in 2020.