Stocks up in upbeat trading

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock barometer firmed up Wednesday as upbeat trading overnight boosted regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 26.57 points or 0.38 percent to close at 7,093.31.

All counters were up but the biggest gainer was the property sub-index, which edged higher by 1.24 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.64 billion. There were 107 advancers that beat 72 decliners while 34 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by SM Prime, which gained 3.76 percent, while JG Summit rose by 2.52 percent. DMCI also went up by 1.06 percent.

Universal Robina Corp., Bloomberry, Ayala Land Inc., BDO Unibank, BPI and SM Investments Corp. also contributed to the day’s gains.

Many second- and third-liner stocks were actively traded as investors who had earlier profited from large-cap stocks rotated their money.

Unioil hit the maximum volatility cap, rising by 50 percent, while Melco rose 3.23 percent ahead of the opening of its integrated resort City of Dreams Manila, a partnership with PLC, which likewise surged by 7.82 percent.

Puregold gained 3.85 percent and Vista Land rose 1.35 percent.

On the other hand, PLDT dropped by 1.07 percent while Ayala Corp., Energy Development Corp. and Semirara likewise slipped.

Across the region, stock markets mostly rose to one-month highs yesterday, riding on Wall Street’s optimism on US corporate earnings.