Market continues rally

The local stock barometer continued to rally Friday as regional markets cheered the better-than-expected US economic growth in the second quarter.

Rising for the fourth straight session since the freefall on Monday, the Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 76.72 points or 1.09 percent to close at 7,098.81.

The day’s gains were led by the mining/oil counter which surged by 5.16 percent while the industrial, holding firm and property counters rose by more than 1 percent.

Only the services counter ended in negative territory.

Value turnover for the day was heavy at P11.26 billion. There were 129 advancers and 46 decliners while 40 stocks were unchanged.

ALI, GTCAP and Globe led the PSEi higher, with more than 3 percent increase. JG Summit, Semirara and AEV were up by more than 2 percent. BDO and AC advanced by more than 1 percent.

However, PLDT, BPI and ICTSI bucked the day’s upswing, declining by more than 1 percent. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla