PSEi firms up on second day

THE LOCAL stock barometer slightly firmed up for the second session in a row on Tuesday while regional markets were mixed as fresh jitters over Greece escalated.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index added 16.65 points or 0.21 percent to close at 7,794.55.

The PSEi was led higher by the industrial, holding firm and services counters. On the other hand, the day’s gains were tempered by the decline in financial, mining/oil and property stocks.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.23 billion. Advancers and decliners were nearly balanced at 92 to 93 while 57 stocks were unchanged.

Investors loaded up on shares of gaming firm Bloomberry, which rose by 4.27 percent as well as URC, which surged by 3 percent. URC was the day’s most actively traded stock.

JG Summit also gained by 2.18 percent while AGI advanced by 1.81 percent.

GTCAP, SMIC, Jollibee and DMCI also contributed to the PSEi’s gains.

Among the notable gainers outside the PSEi were DNL (+2.42 percent) and Puregold (+1.28 percent).

On the other hand, the key decliners were Semirara (-2.35 percent) alongside EDC (-1.5 percent) and Metrobank (-1.16 percent).

BPI, PLDT, AC and BDO also slipped.

Outside of PSEi stocks, Lopez slumped by 4.94 percent.

Trading sentiment elsewhere in the region was mixed following an overnight decline in US stocks.