PSEi bucks regional downturn

THE LOCAL stock barometer bucked a regional downturn on Thursday, firming above the 7,500 level, aided by foreign buying into local equities.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 62.82 points or 0.84 percent to close at 7,564.47.

“Philippine equities became refuge as regional markets continued to weaken based on current economic data,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at local brokerage house Regina Capital Development.

In the US, Limlingan said officials have scaled back expectations of interest rate increases in 2017 and 2018. “They now only foresee three increases in each of those years, down from the four they expected in March, according to their latest median forecast. (US Federal Reserve chair Janet) Yellen in the past has ascribed the low level of rates mainly to lingering headwinds from the financial crisis — tight mortgage credit, for instance — and suggested that they would dissipate over time. On Wednesday, though, she also pointed to more permanent forces that could depress rates for longer, namely, slow productivity growth and aging societies, in the U.S. and throughout much of the world.”

Meanwhile, Limlingan noted that the Bank of Japan had refrained from expanding monetary stimulus ahead of the U.K. vote on “Brexit” – referring to Britain’s potential exit from the European Union – next week that could roil global markets.

At the local market, all counters were up led by mining/oil which rose by 2.31 percent while the financial and industrial counters rose by over 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.9 billion. There were 117 advancers that beat 61 decliners while 58 stocks were unchanged.

Despite the gloomy trading elsewhere in the region, foreign investors were net buyers amounting to P343 million. In the first quarter, the Philippines was the fastest growing economy in the region with its year-on-year growth of 6.9 percent that beat even China.

The PSEi was led higher by Bloomberry, which surged by 7.36 percent on rumours of a forthcoming deal involving its Korean operations. Meralco was likewise up by 3.17 percent while BDO rose by 2.02 percent.

AC, SM, URC and PLDT were all up by over 1 percent while JG Summit, SM Prime, Globe, GTCAP, AEv, BPI and Metrobank also contributed gains.