Local stock market ends year up

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index ended higher for the fifth straight year in 2013, rising by a modest 1.3 percent on the back of yearend window-dressing activities while the market braced for the tapering of easy US  money in the coming year.

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index ended higher for the fifth straight year in 2013, rising by a modest 1.3 percent on the back of yearend window-dressing activities while the market braced for the tapering of easy US money in the coming year.

On Friday, the last trading day of the year, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 11.51 points or 0.2 percent to close at 5,889.83. The local bourse tracked the yearend upswing in most regional markets.

For the full year, the PSEi added a modest 77.1 points from the end-2012 closing of 5,812.73. The index went up by 33 percent year-on-year in 2012. In 2011, the index was up by a modest 4 percent while it gained by 38 percent and 63 percent, respectively, in 2010 and 2009.

Ramon Garcia, president of the local stock brokerage RTG & Co., said local investors were still optimistic about the prospects for 2014. He said the PSEi could retest the 7,000 levels in the coming year but not necessarily hit the all-time high of around 7,400 in early 2013.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities, agreed that the outlook for the local market was still optimistic for 2014, during which he said the PSEi would likely sustain its run-up.

“There’s some window-dressing,” Roxas said.

By counter, the industrial, holding firm, services and property sub-indices supported the day’s rise, making up for the slack in the financial and mining/oil counters.

Turnover amounted to P6.4 billion.

There were 91 advancers against 70 decliners while 48 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s biggest gainer was SMC (+3.31 percent), which estimated a full year net income of P39 billion compared to last year’s P27 billion.

Other big gainers for the day were Globe, AEV, EDC and ICTSI which all went up by over 2 percent. Jollibee and MPI went up by over 1 percent.

The day’s biggest lagger was URC (-3.33 percent) while BDO, JGS and BPI all dipped by over 1 percent.