PSEi turns in best performance this year

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index surged to a new high for 2014 as cash-awash investors sought new investment outlets amid improved macroeconomic prospects.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 41.47 points or 0.61 percent to close at 6,852.81, its best finish for this year.

The holding firm and mining/oil sub-indices were the best performers, both rising by over 1 percent.

There were 126 advancers against 61 decliners while 38 stocks were unchanged.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said the market run-up was driven by liquidity.  He said some investors who had left the market from May to December last year—amid global fears on the US Federal Reserve’s tapering of monetary stimulus— seemed to be coming back to the market.

The main index was led higher by JG Summit (+3.09 percent), Megaworld (+2.42 percent) and SMIC (+2.09 percent) while AP, BDO and GTCAP all surged by over 1 percent.

ALI, Metrobank, URC, AC and EDC also contributed to the day’s gains.

Outside of the main index, the notable gainers were Bankard (+31.25 percent), Cyberbay (+14.47 percent), the day’s most actively traded stock Puregold (+4.35 percent) and parent firm Cosco (+3.18 percent).

Bankard is perked up by spillover play on Marcventures while Cyberbay is seen benefiting from San Miguel Corp.’s upcoming $10-billion airport proposal.

Meanwhile, Puregold chair Lucio Co announced plans to consolidate the operations of privately-held Puregold DutyFree stores in Clark and Subic into Puregold.

Overall, the local macroeconomic backdrop got a boost from S&P’s fresh credit rating upgrade on the Philippine government, which is now a notch higher than the minimum investment grade rating at S&P’s scale.

RELATED STORY

PSEi ends lower