PSEi firms up on 6% GDP

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up slightly above the 7,000 mark on Thursday as the government announced an economic growth rate of 6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index added 4.11 points or 0.06 percent to close at 7,063.25. The index hit as high as 7,084.26 in intra-day trade but gains were pared as investors pocketed gains on news of the third quarter local economic growth.

The market was propped up by a modest net foreign buying amounting to P148 million for the day.

The country’s third quarter growth rate was slightly lower than market consensus of 6.3 percent but better than the revised second quarter growth rate of 5.8 percent. This also marked the third fastest pace of expansion seen in Asia for the period.

At the local stock market, all counters advanced except for the property counter which declined by 0.76 percent.

Despite the modest gain, market breadth was negative. There were 75 advancers which were outnumbered by 85 decliners while 48 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by ICTSI, which advanced by 2.4 percent while URC, Jollibee, BDO, Globe, AC, AGI, Meralco and JG Summit also firmed up.

On the other hand, the day’s gains were tempered by the decline of ALI, which slipped by 1 percent. RLC, SM Prime, MPI, DMCI and GTCAP also slipped.

Elsewhere in the region, sentiment was mixed ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday.