Philippines Stock Exchange. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer retested the 6,500 mark on Thursday as investor appetite further improved with a strong corporate earnings flow and the inclusion of more Philippine corporations into the FTSE All-World Index.
Rising for the second straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 60.68 points or 0.94 percent to close at 6,516.82.
Some fund managers took their cue from the inclusion of the following stocks into the FTSE All-World Index: Petron (+3.73 percent), JG Summit (+1.93 percent), GTCAP (+2.3 percent), LTG (+2.32 percent), Emperador (+2.9 percent), all of which surged on Thursday. There was likewise an increase in float for Ayala Corp. (+0.17 percent) at the FTSE All-World Index, the large to mid-cap aggregate of around 2,800 stocks from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series covering 90-95 percent of the investable market capitalization.
The Philippines’ weight in the FTSE’s emerging market country flows improved from 1.53 percent to 1.69 percent effective at the closing of trades on March 21 this year.
“Momentum remains high seemed poised to test 6,700 levels, with the help of foreign buying and good earnings results,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief strategist at Banco de Oro Unibank.
“With Ukraine tensions subsiding, we may even try 7,000 levels,” Ravelas said.
Other strong performers for the day were AGI (+3.97 percent), Metrobank (+2.83 percent), AP (+2.05 percent), PLDT (+1.59 percent) on robust core earnings prospects. URC and BPI advanced by over 1 percent.
On the other hand, there was profit-taking on ALI (-1 percent) and Megaworld (-0.47 percent) as well as on non-PSEi stocks like DNL and Cosco.
There were 86 advancers versus 82 decliners at the stock market while 38 were unchanged. Total value turnover was P12.75 billion.
In a research note, local stock brokerage DA Market Securities said the return of foreign funds flow had confirmed the bottoming out from the lows seen in June and August of 2013.
After breaching the resistance at 6,482, DA Market sees the next resistance levels at 6,648 and then at 6,700-6,800 which it said might prove formidable.
For shorter-term investors, DA Market said it would be safer to pocket gains near the resistance levels. But over the longer-term, the brokerage house said if major formidable resistance levels were broken, that would signify an attempt to return to previous highs.
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