PSEi up for 5th straight session in a row

By: Doris C. Dumlao - 11 years ago

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index went up for the fifth straight session on Monday, as investors loaded up on oversold issues in anticipation of a yearend rally.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 14.55 points or 0.23 percent to close at 6,223.37. Across regional markets, sentiment was mixed even as factory data out of China for November turned out better than expected.

China’s manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) of 51.4 in November against market expectation of a fall to 51.1 suggested that the strength of growth recovery might be more sustainable than the market had expected, investment bank BofA Merrill Lynch said. However, it said, positive sentiment arising from this data could be partially offset by investors’ concern about possible policy tightening.

At the local market, turnover for the day amounted to P5.34 billion. There were 79 advancers against 63 decliners while 36 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s upswing was led by the property counter, which went up by 1.28 percent. The financial, industrial and mining/oil counters also gained. Many are loading up on oversold equities in anticipation of a yearend rally.

On the other hand, the holding firm and property counters ended in negative territory.

The day’s biggest index advancers were: Globe (+5.68 percent) and Petron (+3.2 percent) while FGEN, ICTSI and DMCI rose by over 2 percent. Jollibee, URC and Bloomberry also gained by over 1 percent while SM Prime and AC likewise contributed to index gains.

Meanwhile, PSE president Hans Sicat launded Monday’s listing of the country’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF), First Metro Philippine Equity Exchange Traded Fund Inc. (FMETF).

“ETFs have remained to be one of the fastest growing asset class in the world because the product itself has shown to be beneficial to investors worldwide and one of the easiest to understand and trade. We are hopeful that more retail investors can now participate easily in the growth of our market. Global investors will also be able to benefit as they can readily get exposure to the Philippines with just one product,” Sicat said.

ETFs are open-ended investment instruments and have become the world’s fastest growing asset class. ETFs are ideal for investors who want to create a diversified portfolio of stocks with lower investment cost.