PSEi nears 7,000

THE LOCAL stock barometer moved closer to the 7,000 level on Monday, riding on the recovery momentum seen last week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 63.38 points or 0.91 percent to close at 6,996.19.

Elsewhere in the region, trading sentiment was mixed. Last week, the European Central Bank chief hinted of fresh stimulus measures at the central bank’s Dec. 3 policy meeting even as the US Federal Reserve, on the other hand, is seen to sanction the much-ballyhooed interest rate lift-off by yearend.

At the local market, the day’s gains were led by the industrial, holding firm and property counters which all rose by over 1 percent while the services sub-index also advanced. These made up for the decline in the financial and mining/oil counters.

Total value turnover stood at around P5.3 billion. Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative as there were 86 decliners which outnumbered 77 advancers while 43 stocks were unchanged.

The index was led higher by JG Summit which gained 3 percent while property stocks SM Prime and Megaworld as well as port operator ICTSI and utility firm Meralco all rose by over 2 percent.

URC and AC advanced by over 1 percent while BDO, RLC, SMIC, GTCAP and MPI also firmed up.

Outside of the PSEi, FLI (+5.08 percent) and Puregold (+4.61 percent) rose in heavy volume.

D&L had a rough start following reports of fumes out of Chemrez’ factory in Bagumbayan, Quezon City on Sunday but it even ended 0.11 percent higher in heavy trade on assurance that the fumes were now under control, the impact was negligible and that factory operation would resume by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Metrobank, Globe Telecom, ALI and BPI slipped.