MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer rose slightly on Wednesday as most regional markets were lifted by an upbeat US consumer confidence report.
Reversing the weakness seen in early trade, the Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 12.16 points or 0.19 percent to close at 6,348.50. Gains were tempered by some investors’ caution over the upcoming monetary setting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Thursday.
There were 78 advancers that beat 71 decliners while 54 stocks were unchanged. Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.5 billion.
Overall, the market was still seen in a consolidation phase while awaiting fresh catalysts. The fourth quarter 2013 corporate earnings season is now nearly over.
JG Summit and DMCI were among the day’s big PSEi gainers, both rising by over 1 percent. SM Prime, Metrobank, BPI, AGI, Megaworld and ICTSI also gained ground.
On the other hand, there was profit-taking on Petron (-3.46 percent) and URC (-1.3 percent). PLDT, BDO, SMIC, ALI, Jollibee and GTCAP also declined.
Outside of the main index, Puregold slipped by 2 percent.
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