PSEi leaves ‘bear’ territory

The local stock barometer moved out of “bear” territory yesterday as better-than-expected fourth-quarter domestic economic growth boosted investor sentiment.

After a rough start, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 56.16 points or 0.86 percent to close at 6,563.38. This followed reports that the Philippines grew its gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter, beating the 6-percent market consensus.

“Momentum for 6.5-7 percent (growth) in first half of 2016 and full-year 2016 6.2-percent growth is very much in place after this report,” said BPI economist Jun Neri.

After falling by more than 20 percent from the April 2015 peak level in the last two weeks, the PSEi has cut its losses but was still down by 19 percent from the peak.

“The market will range between 6,000 and 8,000 levels (this year). Risk is still (breaking below) 6,000 but it’s bottoming out,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief strategist at Banco de Oro Unibank.

All counters advanced yesterday, led by the holding firms, which gained 1.5 percent, driven by Sy family-led SM Investments Corp. (+4.42 percent) and AGI (+3.57 percent).

Value turnover amounted to P7.5 billion. There were nearly twice as many advancers (122) as decliners (61).

Investors picked up shares of URC, SM Prime, BPI, ALI, PLDT, BDO, MPI, GTCAP, Megaworld and Metrobank.  Doris Dumlao-Abadilla