PSEi gains on late buying

The local stock barometer recovered its early session losses to end in positive territory Friday as investors shrugged off the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ overnight policy rate increase and welcomed the correction in US markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 29.41 points or 0.43 percent to close at 6,894.23, aided by late-session buying on selective large-cap stocks.

Given the high valuation of local stocks relative to historical levels, many are waiting for a correction as an opportunity to take new position.

Value turnover amounted to P7.15 billion. Despite the PSEi gain, market breadth was negative as there were more decliners (106) than advancers (68) while 50 stocks were unchanged. Doris C. Dumlao