PSEi rises for 5th session

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up for the fifth straight session on Wednesday, clinging to the 7,500 level even as Chinese stocks tumbled anew.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 20.28 points or 0.27 percent to close at 7,559.04.

Traders have said a clear break above the resistance levels at 7,580 and 7,600 would be needed to persuade the bulls to return to the local market, which has seen a lot of volatility since May due to jitters over the Greek debt crisis, the US Federal Reserve’s expected hike in interest rates and most recently, the stock market turmoil in mainland China.

Stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong returned to the doldrums on Wednesday even after China reported a second quarter gross domestic product growth of 7 percent, the same pace seen in the previous quarter and slightly better than market consensus.

Despite the short-term volatility in the local stock market, Maybank ATR Kim Eng Securities economist Luz Lorenzo said on Wednesday that although foreign funds would likely return to the local market as the country’s good fundamentals were still intact.

“When you compare fundamentals in terms of fiscal space, current account surplus, liquidity and banking strength, there are not too many countries with the same characteristics,” Lorenzo said. “Because of these fundamentals, we will continue to attract foreign and domestic investors.” At the same time, she said the low-interest rate and benign inflation environment would bode well for direct investments, portfolio investments as well as capital spending of corporations.

At the local market, the upswing on Wednesday was led by the mining/oil counter which rose by 1.25 percent while the financial, holding firm, services and property counters also contributed to the gain. Only the industrial counter ended lower.

Total value turnover amounted to P8.5 billion. There were 106 advancers which overwhelmed 62 decliners while 45 stocks were unchanged.

DMCI led the PSEi higher, gaining 2.13 percent while Globe and MPI gained over 1 percent. BDO, PLDT, Jollibee, Metrobank, Bloomberry, SMPH, FGEN and GTCAP also firmed up.

One notable gainer among non-PSEi stock is gaming firm PLC which surged by 7.46 percent. Security Bank and EEI also gained in relatively heavy volume.

On the other hand, URC slipped by 2.6 percent while AC also dipped. Non-PSEi stock Puregold was also down by 1.39 percent.