PSEi clings to 7,000 mark

THE LOCAL stock barometer inched up on Tuesday to stay afloat the 7,000 level on the back of selective buying mostly by local investors.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 5.99 points or 0.09 percent to close at 7,060.85. Across the region, most stock markets ended higher, recovering from a rough start.

At the local market, the slight gain was backed by the holding firm and services counters while the financial, industrial, mining/oil and property counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.64 billion. Foreign investors were net sellers for the day resulting in a net outflow of P643 million from the local bourse.

Despite the PSEi’s modest gain, market breadth was negative. There were only 81 advancers which were edged out by 103 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged.

First Gen led the PSEi higher with its 4.17 percent gain while LTG rose by 3.28 percent. LTG unit Absolut Distillers announced investment in a new bioethanol facility in Lian, Batangas, with a daily production capacity of 100,000 liters.

Conglomerate GTCAP also rose by 2.4 percent while SMIC rose by 1.8 percent.

Jollibee, Meralco, BPI, MPI and PLDT also contributed to the day’s modest gain.

Outside of the PSEi, DNL rose by 4.06 percent while Puregold advanced by 3.73 percent in heavy volume.

On the other hand, AP fell by 2.61 percent while property stocks ALI and Megaworld both slipped by over 1 percent. URC, BDO, EDC and Metrobank also declined.