Local stock market perks up in heavy trading

As of November 26, 2013 03:46:00 PM   https://www.pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index firmed up for the first time in six days on Tuesday, staying above the 6,000-mark.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 21.11 points or 0.35 percent to close at 6,025.37 as foreigners turned from net sellers to buyers.

Turnover was heavy at P22.29 billion, buoyed by the P8.8-billion overnight sale of JG Summit shares at P40 per share.

JG Summit was the day’s most actively traded stock but also the biggest PSEi decliner (-6.83 percent) following the discounted share sale, some of the proceeds from which would be used by the Gokongwei group to pay for the acquisition of shares in Meralco.

Despite the overall gain in the main index, however, market breadth was still negative, with 111 decliners overwhelming 51 advancers and 30 stocks remaining unchanged.

Sentiment was mixed across counters, with the industrial, holding firm and property counters leading the index higher while the financial, services and mining/oil counters were in the doldrums.

The PSEi’s gains for the day were led by EDC and Jollibee, which both advanced by over 5 percent. AC gained by over 4 percent while ALI and AGI were up by over 3 percent. MPI, AEV, SMIC, URC and Petron were likewise among the big contributors to the PSEi’s rise for the day.

On the other hand, the laggers aside from JG Summit were RLC, SMC, MWC and Megaworld which all dipped by over 2 percent. FGEN, PLDT, Globe, BDO and SM Prime fell by over 1 percent.

Metrobank, in its weekly research, expects the market to trade downwards with higher volume and selling pressures on the first few trading days of this week.

“However, investors will still remain guarded. The rest of the week is seen with light trading and a potential technical rebound in light of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US as well as the actual date of the MSCI rebalancing,” Metrobank said.

One key economic data to watch out for this week is the Philippine third quarter economic report due on Thursday, November 28, the bank said.

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