PSEi firms up on selective buying

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up for the second session in a row on Tuesday, as selective large-cap buying allowed the main index to defy the regional downturn seen after China’s surprise devaluation of the yuan.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 36.1 points or 0.48 percent to close at 7,570.45.

Newly listed SBS sizzled for a second day in a row after listing on the local bourse, gaining another 35.92 percent to close at P5.60 per share. This is on the back of an asset property play amid revelations that the company had P8 to P10 billion worth of property assets which were not factored in the initial public offering price. It was the day’s most actively traded stock.

Among PSEi stocks, Petron and Semirara led the day’s gains, respectively rising by 10.99 percent and 8.05 percent. DMCI rose by 5.57 percent, riding on Semirara’s rebound.

ALI advanced by 2.23 percent while URC and AGI both gained over 1 percent.

BDO, SMIC, SM Prime, AP and MPI also contributed to the day’s gains.

On the other hand, GT Capital and Bloomberry slipped by over 1 percent. PLDT, Metrobank, JG Summit and EDC also ended lower.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.2 billion.

Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative. There were only 68 advancers that were outnumbered by 120 decliners while 36 stocks were unchanged.

Across the region, stock markets slipped following China’s surprise move to allow the local currency to fall to three-year lows. The Chinese central bank tagged it as a “one-off depreciation” – equivalent to around 2 percent – but the move only heightened jitters on the Chinese economy.