PSEi hits high at 7,314.94 in post-ghost month buying

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer retested the 7,300 mark for the first time this year on post-“ghost month” buying binge on Monday, veering closer to the record highs seen in 2013.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index added 51.36 points or 0.71 percent to close at 7,314.94, the highest finish since May 22, 2013. The index also hit a new intra-day peak at 7,333.14.

Since the start of the year, the PSEi has now rallied by a total of 24.2 percent.

“It’s post ghost month bargain hunting. If you look at it, a good chunk of the market’s rise is company-specific, like PLDT and ALI on MSCI (weight upgrade) and URC on its New Zealand investment,” said Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at Campos Lanuza & Co.

The cyclical financial and property sectors led the index higher, suggesting a play on the country’s growth prospects.  Only the industrial counter was in the red.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.13 billion.  Despite the overall PSEi gain, there were more decliners (95) than advancers (95) while 39 stocks were unchanged.

PLDT (+0.23 percent) was the day’s most actively traded stock but the biggest index gainers were SM prime, Bloomberry and JG Summit, which all surged by over 3 percent.

BDO, ALI and Metrobank also rose by over 1 percent while URC, AC also contributed to the day’s gains.

Outside of PSEi stocks, Marcventures was a notable gainer, rising by 9.44 percent. Retailer RRHI also gained by 3.29 percent.

On the other hand, there was profit-taking on Meralco and EDC, which both fell by over 1 percent.  ICTSI and Jollibee also slipped.

Outside of PSEi stocks, Puregold (-1 percent) and Nickel Asia (-0.86 percent) slipped in heavy volume.