Market stays above 7,000 mark

The local stock barometer firmed up slightly above the 7,000 mark yesterday as the government announced an economic growth 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 a high of 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 third quarter growth rate was slightly lower than the market consensus of 6.3 percent but better than the second quarter growth rate of 5.8 percent.  This was also the third fastest expansion pace 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 and 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.

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.Doris Dumlao-Abadilla