PSEi continues to rise

The local stock barometer firmed up for the sixth straight session, retesting the 7,900 level, as investors continued to be encouraged by first-quarter local corporate earnings reports.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 28.48 points or 0.36 percent to close at 7,910.43.

Some dealers said the market also welcomed the 11.3-percent year-on-year growth in cash remittances to $2.1 billion for March as this showed a strong improvement over the sluggish performance in the first two months.

The day’s gains were led by the financial, holding firm, services and property counters. On the other hand, the industrial and mining/oil counters faltered.

Value turnover for the day was thin at P4.57 billion. Despite the PSEi’s rise, market breadth was negative as there were more decliners (94) than gainers (89).

The day’s gains were led by Bloomberry, which rebounded by 4 percent after a freefall in recent days following its report of a larger-than-expected net loss in the first quarter. AGI, Megaworld and SM Prime gained more than 2 percent while GTCAP, BDO, AP and JG Summit advanced by over 1 percent. ALI, Metrobank, MPI, Jollibee, PLDT and EDC also contributed modest gains.

On the other hand, Globe fell by 3.92 percent on profit-taking. The telecom stock rallied last week following its announcement of strong first-quarter results. URC was the most actively traded stock, declining by 2.66 percent. On the other hand, BPI and AC also slipped. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla