PH share prices up on technical rebound

Philippine stocks on Tuesday recovered from a seven-day slump and closed on what an analyst described as a technical rebound.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended higher by 0.94 percent, or 58.94 points, to 6,324.17. The all-shares index also rose 0.71 percent, or 27.03 points, to 3,852.21.

But the subsectors’ performance were mixed, and the gains were not broad-based. There were 81 advancers against 66 decliners, while 42 companies closed unchanged.

Only the financials and mining and oil subsectors ended in the red, by 0.60 percent and 1.39 percent, respectively. Gainers, on the other hand, were led by services, up 2.35 percent, and property, up 1.33 percent.

“The PSEI snapped a seven-session slump, [but] it doesn’t seem to amount to more than a technical rebound. On the surface, it is indeed a tough challenge to elicit optimism based solely on today’s action marked by value turnover slacking off in the afternoon session,” said Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Inc.

He noted that the Philippines still faced challenges when it came to dealing with the damage recently caused by Supertyphoon Yolanda.

Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange showed that 1.17 billion shares valued at P11.25 billion changed hands.

Again, the most actively traded issue was Robinsons Retail Holdings, which managed to rally just above its P58 a share IPO price. The company closed its second day of trading up 4.42 percent to P59 a share.

This was followed by Alliance Global Group Inc. (+1.37 percent to P25.95), Ayala Corp. (-2.6 percent to P561), JG Summit Holdings (+2.62 percent to P49)  and LT Group Inc. (-3.48 percent to P13.32).  Miguel R. Camus