Property gains boost market performance

THE LOCAL stock barometer on Thursday firmed up above the 7,500 level, led by the property counter.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index added 3.16 points or 0.04 percent to close at 7,578.31, tracking the upswing in most regional markets notwithstanding lingering jitters over Greek debt and the US Federal Reserve.

The property sub-index advanced by 1.15 percent. The services and mining/oil counters also posted gains.

On the other hand, the financial and holding firm counters ended lower.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said it seemed that in the first half of the year, there was compulsion from some foreign funds to unload shares. This was seen in line with an international reallocation of assets.

But come July 1, Roxas noted that the selling pressure seemed to have dissipated. He said the PSEi might rise slowly through this month ahead of President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 27.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.6 billion. There were 87 advancers, edging out 64 decliners, while 62 stocks were unchanged.

Meralco led the PSEi higher, gaining by 2.05 percent while ALI perked up the property counter as it rose by 1.48 percent.

URC, Jollibee and FGEN also contributed modest gains.

One notable gainer outside of PSEi stocks was DNL, which advanced by 2.35 percent.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s rise was capped by the decline of AP, which fell by 2.19 percent, while GTCAP and AC slipped by over 1 percent. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla