PSEi bucks regional downturn

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up on Tuesday, bucking a regional downturn, as investors selectively picked up stocks following last week’s bloodbath.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index recouped 50.03 points or 0.69 percent to close at 7,356.72, rising for the second straight session. This has been attributed to a technical bounce after last week’s sharp decline.

Elsewhere in the region, stock markets traded lower as hawkish comments by a US Federal Reserve official affirmed bets that US interest rates may rise by June or July.

At the local market, the day’s upswing was led by the property counter while the financial, industrial and holding firms ended with modest gains.

On the other hand, the mining/oil counter declined by 1.46 percent while the services counter also slipped.

Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative. There were 102 decliners that outnumbered 79 advancers while 52 stocks were unchanged.

Foreign investors were in a net selling position, resulting in P108M in net foreign outflow from the stock market for the day.

ALI and SMIC led the PSEi higher, both rising by over 2 percent while AC, MPI, SM Prime, Metrobank, AP and AGI all gained over 1 percent. AEV and BDO also contributed gains.

Outside of PSEi stocks, notable gainers included DoubleDragon (+4.71 percent) and NOW (+10.74 percent) which rose in heavy volume.

On the other hand, DMCI fell by 2.79 percent while ICTSI also tumbled by 1.29 percent. PLDT, JG Summit and Meralco all declined. Incoming president Duterte had called on telecommunication firms to improve their services or face stiffer competition.

Security Bank, which is debuting on the MSCI Philippines index after month-end, also fell on profit-taking (-0.51 percent).