PSEi breaches 6,400 mark

The local stock barometer returned to the 6,400 level yesterday on quarter-end portfolio buying as well as bets on monetary stimulus in China.

Rising for the second consecutive session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 69.09 points or 1.09 percent to close at 6,428.71.

All counters were up but the biggest gainer was the mining/oil counter, which surged by 2.29 percent. The industrial, holding firm and property counters all gained more than 1 percent.

Stocks typically rise at the end of every month or quarter due to window-dressing activities. Dealers said the recent decline in equities had also allowed investors to take fresh positions in the market.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P9.98 billion. There were 95 advancers versus 59 decliners while 50 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s biggest gainers were Semirara (+4.75 percent), Robinsons Land Corp. (+4.04 percent), Universal Robina Corp. (+3.65 percent) and Bloomberry (+3.51 percent) while Ayala Corp., JG Summit and Meralco were all up 2 percent. Ayala Land, DMCI, Megaworld, SM Investments Corp., BDO and Energy Development Corp. all rose more than 1 percent while PLDT and BPI contributed modest gains.

On the other hand, Aboitiz Power declined by 1.2 percent while GT Capital, Metrobank and Alliance Global Inc. likewise closed lower. Doris C. Dumlao