Local stock index gains some more but enters ‘crucial resistance level’
MANILA, Philippines—Month-end window-dressing shored up the local stock index toward the 6,200 mark on Friday, reversing losses earlier in the session.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 38.86 points or 0.63 percent to end at 6,208.82.
For the week, the index rose by a total of 123.98 points or 2 percent, mostly attained on Thursday on news that the Philippine economy had expanded by 7 percent in the third quarter, the fifth straight quarter of above-7-percent gross domestic product growth.
“Traditional month-end window-dressing pushed the market to positive territory late in the session,” said Manny Cruz, chief strategist at Asiasec Equities.
But Cruz said the day’s rise was buoyed by selective issues. “If you look at market breadth, there’s the same number of advancers and decliners (77),” he said. “We’re now at a crucial level because the index is now at the resistance level.”
Turnover for the day amounted to P10.18 billion. For most of the day, the market traded in the red before the late-session buying binge that allowed the index to gain at closing.
The PSEi was led higher by SM Prime, Metrobank, PLDT, ICTSI and BDO, which all gained over 2 percent.
SM Prime, the day’s biggest PSEi gainer, also benefited from news that the group had bagged a 300-hectare Manila Bay reclamation project, having been named as the joint venture partner of the Pasay City government.
SMC, FGEN and AEV also advanced by over 1 percent while SMIC and MPI likewise contributed to the day’s gains.
On the other hand, the day’s PSEi gains were tempered by the decline of Bloomberry, EDC, Jollibee, AGI and GTCAP which all fell by over 1 percent.
