Stocks extend winning streak

THE LOCAL stock barometer extended its winning streak for the ninth session on Thursday as investors were emboldened by the US Federal Reserve’s signal that rate hikes won’t come too soon.

Tracking gains eked out by most regional markets, the Philippine Stock Exchange index gained another 57.93 points or 0.79 percent to close at 7,367.63.

The gains were led by the interest rate-sensitive property counter, which went up by 2.94 percent while the holding firm, services and mining/oil counters contributed modest gains.

On the other hand, the financial and industrial counters ended lower.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P11.14 billion.  There were 103 advancers that edged out 69 decliners while 49 stocks were unchanged.

The rally was led by ALI, which surged by 4.44 percent and was the most actively traded stock in the market.  Metrobank and PLDT also rose by over 2 percent.

SMIC, AC, Megaworld and SM Prime all gained by over 1 percent. JG Summit and GTCAP also firmed up.

Outside of PSEi, a notable gainer was Puregold, which rose by 3.5 percent.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s gain was tempered by the decline of Bloomberry (-2.87 percent) and BPI (-1.39 percent) while BDO, URC, EDC, ICTSI, AGI and Jollibee also declined.

Outside of PSEi stocks, the notable decliners were Cebu Air (-5.83 percent) and Travellers (-3.59 percent). Doris C. Dumlao