PH stocks surge on upbeat Q1 earnings
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Local stocks resumed their upswing on Monday as investors picked up large capS and selected second-liners alongside optimism on first-quarter corporate earnings and a buoyant global sentiment.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index surged by 38.08 points, or 0.9 percent, to finish at 4,257.15.
Lepanto Mining, JG Summit, PLDT, AGI, Metrobank, Aboitiz Power and Megaworld led the index higher while non-index stocks San Miguel Corp., Cebu Air and Geograce likewise gained in heavy volume.
The Mining/oil sector outperformed for the day due to a merger-and-acquisition play, rising by 2.17 percent on the back of a merger and acquisition play on Lepanto, where the group of Manual V. Pangilinan-led Philex Mining recent acquired a 5-percent stake.
The industrial and services counters were likewise up 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. Only the property counter was in the red, losing 0.43 percent.
Value turnover reached P5.65 billion. Despite the main index gain, the 70 advancers were slightly edged out by 72 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged. There was about P499 million in net foreign selling for the day.
