Stocks rebound on foreign buying

The local stock market rebounded Monday after a two-day decline as foreign funds took position ahead of the release of the Philippines’ first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 53.19 points or 0.78 percent to close at 6,870.90.

“This is due to fund flows as foreign investors are anticipating good economic numbers for the first quarter,” said Manny Cruz, chief strategist at Asiasec Equities Inc.

The government is set to announce the country’s first-quarter economic performance at the end of this month.

All counters were up but holding firms and property sub-indices led the day’s rally with gains of more than 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.17 billion. There were 98 advancers that beat 69 decliners while 43 stocks were unchanged.

Investors picked up shares of Alliance Global Inc. and Jollibee, both rising by more than 3 percent, while DMCI (+2.88 percent) likewise gained.  Metrobank, SM Investments Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Energy Development Corp. and Bloomberry also rose by over 1 percent.

Investors also picked up shares of BDO, SM Prime and Globe. Outside of PSEi stocks, Security Bank (+2.9 percent) and DoubleDragon (+1.76 percent) gained in heavy volume.

On the other hand, LT Group (-9.46 percent) fell sharply on disappointing first-quarter profit results.

With most of its subsidiaries posting slower profits or even incurring a loss in the case of Tanduay Distillers, one dealer said annualized earnings would be only P6 billion or way below the market consensus of P9 billion. Doris C. Dumlao