PH shares eke out gains

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Thursday firmed up for the first session in a row as investors digested the ongoing stream of fourth quarter local corporate earnings and the upcoming MSCI rebalancing.

The main-share PSEi added 23.09 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 7,831.44.

All counters chalked up modest gains. Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.57 billion.

Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative as there were 106 decliners against 79 advancers, while 48 stocks were unchanged.

A notable gainer was Globe, which surged by 7.56 percent after reporting a strong profit performance in the first quarter.

Metrobank rose by 2.39 percent, while parent conglomerate GTCAP, which is set to join the MSCI global index at the end of the month, gained 0.94 percent. BDO, AC and Semirara also gained by over 1 percent, while BPI, PLDT, and ALI closed higher.

On the other hand, Bloomberry slid by 12.97 percent after reporting larger-than-expected losses in the first quarter. Megaworld also fell by 2 percent while AGI and ICTSI all fell by over 1 percent.–Doris Dumlao-Abadilla