PSEi back at 7,300

MANILA, Philippines–The local stock barometer climbed back to the 7,300 level on Wednesday, sustaining its ascent for the eighth session on rosy prospects for 2015.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 31.96 points, or 0.44 percent, to close at 7,309.70, tracking regional markets, which mostly took their cue from firmer China stocks even as US stocks slumped overnight.

The day’s gains were led by the mining/oil counter, which rose by 2.47 percent while the industrial counter was up 1 percent. Only the financial counter slipped for the day.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.4 billion. Despite the gain of the main index, decliners narrowly edged out advancers, 89-88, suggesting that buying activities were mostly focused on large cap stocks.

Bede Lovell Gomez, head of investment advisory group at First Metro Investment Corp., said that apart from tracking buoyant China stocks, there was still some spillover effect from the favorable latest local inflation report.

Philippine year-on-year headline inflation for the whole year of 2014 averaged 4.1 percent, within the government’s inflation target range of 3 to 5 percent. This was as inflation in December 2014 eased further to 2.7 percent from 3.7 percent in November, likewise within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 2.4-3.2 percent for the month.

Most analyst forecasts also project a sustained PSEi for the seventh straight year this 2015.

The index was led higher by LTG, which rose by 3.2 percent, while URC climbed 2.82 percent and was the most actively traded stock.

EDC, Metrobank, Megaworld and AGI all rose more than 1 percent. SMIC, ALI, Meralco, PLDT and AC also contributed to the PSEi’s rise.–Doris C. Dumlao