Philippine stocks end higher

Stocks bucked the downtrend in the region to close higher on Tuesday after Wall Street rallied the night before on prospects of a more business friendly chair at the influential Federal Reserve in the United States.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.66 percent, or 41.43 points, to 6,344.14 by the session’s close while the broader all-shares index gained 0.93 percent, or 35.38 points, to 3,837.81.

Subindices were in the green, save for holding firms and mining and oil, which dipped 0.01 percent and 0.38 percent, respectively. Property companies gained 1.61 percent, followed by industrial firms at 1.42 percent and services, up 0.73 percent.

Total volume hit 1.42 billion shares valued at P10.07 billion, data from the Philippine Stock Exchange showed. Gainers outpaced decliners, 85 to 57, while 40 companies remained unchanged.

Analysts earlier said local stocks were poised for a bounce, based on recent activity, but the market still remained in consolidation mode.

Ayala Land Inc. led the list of most actively traded companies, gaining 2.17 percent to P28.25 per share. This was followed by Touch Solutions (+8.38 percent), SM Investments Corp. (-1.24 percent), Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (-1.57 percent) and Alliance Global Group Inc. (-1.47 percent).

Rounding out the list of top 10 active stocks were Security Bank Corp. (+3.54 percent), SM Prime Holdings Inc. (+2.36 percent), Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (+1.94 percent), Manila Electric Co. (+3.73 percent) and Universal Robina Corp. (+0.55 percent).—Miguel R. Camus