Mining, property shares lead stock market rally

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index firmed up on Wednesday as the sell-off in the past three days attracted some bargain-hunting.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 45.13 points or 0.65 percent to close at 6,991.19, tracking the rebound in most markets in the region. One local stock brokerage, Regina Capital Development Corp., noted this was a “dead cat bounce,” referring to a brief respite during a period of falling stock prices.

All counters firmed up but the main index rally was led by the mining/oil and property counters, both of which advanced by over 1 percent.

ALI and URC led the day’s gainers, both rising by over 2 percent alongside PLDT, BDO, Megaworld and Bloomberry which all went up by over 1 percent.

GTCAP, Ayala Corp., SMIC, BPI, AP and FGEN also firmed up.

Outside of PSEi stocks, Nickel Asia bounced by 5.88 percent in heavy trade.

On the other hand, EDC was a notable decliner (-2.59 percent) while Metrobank, SM Prime, Globe and AEV also closed lower.

Foreign investors were still in a net selling position amounting to P360 million compared to billions of pesos that flowed out in the last few days.

“I think the PSEi secular uptrend is still intact. Pullbacks are an integral part of long-run trends,” said Gus Cosio, president of First Metro Asset Management Inc.

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