THE LOCAL stock barometer rallied to the 7,500 level on Wednesday, outperforming regional markets, due to portfolio adjustments related to the latest MSCI rebalancing.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 99.19 points or 1.34 percent to close at 7,500.79.
The latest rebalancing of MSCI indices – which are closely tracked by many fund managers – had taken effect after the end of Tuesday’s trade.
Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities Inc., said after the drastic movements seen on Tuesday ahead of the effectivity of MSCI rebalancing, there were some corrections on Wednesday.
For instance, he noted that after Emperador’s steep decline on Tuesday, the beverage maker had rebounded by over 4 percent on Wednesday. Security Bank, which was included in the MSCI Philippines index (but not yet part of the PSEi), advanced on Tuesday but pulled back by 1.38 percent on Wednesday.
ICTSI, SMIC and Meralco also led the PSEi higher, all rising by over 3 percent. PLDT, ALI and BDO all advanced by over 2 percent. SM Prime, Globe and GTCAP rose by over 1 percent.
JG Summit, MPIC and AP also contributed to the day’s gains.
On the other hand, Megaworld declined by 2.22 percent while AEV fell by 1.46 percent. AC, Metrobank and Jollibee also faltered.
The property counter posted the biggest gain for the day of 1.7 percent while the industrial, holding firm and services counters all advanced by over 1 percent. Only the mining/oil counter (-0.5 percent) was sluggish.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.17 billion. There were 104 advancers that beat 73 decliners while 56 stocks were unchanged.
Elsewhere in the region, stock markets were initially upbeat over the latest factory data out of China but the optimism fizzled out.
Investment house BofA Merrill Lynch said the latest purchasing managers index (PMI) suggested that business sentiment in China’s industrial sector had remained stable from April to May. “With construction PMI at nine-month high levels, it confirms our view that property and infrastructure investment demand is on the mend,” it said in a research note.