PSEi climbs past 6,800

The local stock barometer rallied back to the 6,800 level yesterday as regional markets were buoyed by the rebound in oil prices and an upbeat trading in Wall Street overnight.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 92.05 points or 1.36 percent to close at 6,848.87, extending its upswing for the fourth straight session.

Local investors bought more shares from the market as there was around P800 million in net foreign selling for the day.

The financial, industrial, holding firm, mining/oil and property counters all advanced by more than 1 percent. Only the services counter ended lower (-0.34 percent), weighed down by telecom giant PLDT, which slumped by 2.06 percent and was the day’s most actively traded issue.

Value turnover for the day was heavy at P9.88 billion. There were 126 advancers, which edged out 47 decliners, while 52 stocks were unchanged.

First Gen led the PSEi higher with its 8.56-percent gain while Metrobank, Petron and GT Capital all rallied by more than 4 percent. Jollibee, MPIC, BDO, SMIC and JG Summit all rose more than 2 percent while URC and ALI gained more than 1 percent. SM Prime, EDC, BPI, Megaworld, Globe and DMCI also contributed to the day’s gains. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla