PSEi gains ahead of US Fed review

THE LOCAL stock barometer bounced back to the 7,500 mark on Wednesday, tracking a regional rebound ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy review.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 41.53 points or 0.56 percent to close at 7.501.65.

Investors see a lower probability of the US Fed raising interest rates during its policy rate setting this week. However, uncertainties over the Great Britain’s potential withdrawal from the European Union – called the “Brexit” – remain an overhang for the market.

At the local market, the gains were led by the property counter which rose by 1.83 percent while the financial, industrial and mining/oil counters also modestly gained. Only the services counter slipped.

There were 101 advancers that beat 92 decliners while 46 stocks were unchanged. Value turnover amounted to P6.16 billion.

ALI, Meralco, MPI and EDC all rose by over 2 percent while URC, Metrobank and BDO all gained by over 1 percent.

SM Prime, JG Summit, AC and Megaworld also contributed to the day’s gains.

Among the notable gainers outside of the PSEi was Cyberbay, which surged by 15 percent on news that San Miguel Corp. and Metro Pacific are in talks to team up on a brand new airport project which may be located in the Cyberbay reclamation area.

DoubeDragon was the day’s most actively traded stock, rising by 11.31 percent. Prime Media rose by 9.45 percent.

On the other hand, Globe fell by 1.73 percent while SMIC and GTCAP slipped.