Local stock index bucks regional trend, continues to rise

pse.com.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index climbed for an eighth straight session on Friday, going against the mostly sluggish trading in the region, on upbeat prospects for the Philippine economy and corporate earnings.

Recovering from some profit-taking in early trade, the Philippine Stock Exchange index advanced by 21.45 pts or 0.35 percent to close at 6,191.50. Across the region, equities were mostly lackluster on weaker manufacturing out of China.

“The market is really strong. Many were waiting to get in so when prices went down a bit, they rushed to get in,” said Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities.

Roxas said this renewed interest was also buoyed by expectations that the Philippines was an outperformer in the region.

The PSEi’s rise was led by the holding firms and mining/oil counters which both gained by over 1 percent while the property sub-index also firmed up. On the other hand, the financial, industrial and services counters were down.

Turnover for the day amounted to P7.3 billion. Despite the overall index gain, there were slightly more decliners—79— than advancers—76— while 43 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s upswing was led by MPI, which gained by 4.71 percent as its north-south connector project gathered steam.

BDO, SM Prime, DMCI and AC advanced by over 2 percent. SMIC and URC were both up by over 1 percent while AGI, ICTSI, GTCAP and JG Summit also contributed to the day’s gains.

On the other hand, there was profit-taking on Metrobank, PLDT, Globe, JFC, BPI, Megaworld, LTG and AEV.