AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer firmed up on Monday, bucking mostly sluggish regional markets, on some investors’ year-ahead positioning.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 37.88 points or 0.64 percent to close at 5,985.81.
All counters were up but the biggest gain was posted by mining/oil (+1.04 percent) on follow-through buying from Friday when this counter surged by over 5 percent. Dealers attributed the rebound to the buying of oversold issues alongside an increase in copper prices.
Although this is the first full week of post-holiday trading, market volume was still thin, with turnover amounting to only P4.92 billion. On average, about P10.52 billion worth of shares changed hands on a daily basis at the local stock market in 2013.
There were 97 advancers that beat 59 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged at the local market.
The large-cap stocks that benefited most from the day’s upswing were BDO (+1.92 percent), Metrobank (+2.07 percent), Megaworld (+3.02 percent) and JG Summit (+1.67 percent) and EDC (+2.13 percent) while URC, AC, ALI, SMIC and Globe likewise contributed to the day’s gains.
On the other hand, SM Prime and ICTSI declined by over 1 percent.
Elsewhere in the region, most markets were lower due to a decline in a key manufacturing indicator out of China that measured new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment.
“The fall in the Chinese non-manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers index) confirms the downturn in the economic cycle,” said investment Credit Agricole CIB, adding that Asian currencies have likewise reacted negatively due to their reliance on China for export revenue and economic growth.
At the local foreign exchange market, the peso depreciated to 44.70 against the US dollar from Friday’s finish of 44.65:$1.