PSEi rallies to 7,900

THE LOCAL stock barometer rallied to the 7,900 mark on Tuesday as stimulus bets boosted investor interest on regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange gained 72.68 points or 0.92 percent to close at 7,937.95. Regional markets welcomed Japan’s plan for more economic stimulus.

The PSEi’s rise was led by interest rate-sensitive property counter which surged by 2.37 percent.

The holding firm counter gained 1 percent while the financial and industrial counters also firmed up.

On the other hand, the services and mining/oil counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.05 billion. Some P964 billion in net foreign buying buoyed large-cap stocks.

There were 111 advancers that edged out 81 decliners while 61 stocks were unchanged.

Investors gobbled up shares of Petron, which gained 6.53 percent while SM Prime, Metrobank and Megaworld all jumped by over 2 percent.

ALI, MPI, JG Summit and First Gen also gained over 1 percent while SMIC also firmed up.

Outside of PSEi stocks, ISM gained 1.81 percent in heavy volume while Puregold also rose by 1.43 percent.

On the other hand, URC, PLDT, BDO and BPI slipped.

Non-PSEi stocks Alterra and Cirtek slid by 15.56 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

In a research note, Citigroup said flows to emerging markets from Citi’s investor clients turned bullish last week.

“The rally in US equity markets has pushed the S&P500 to a new all-time high, despite all the uncertainty about growth trajectories, policy headroom, and potential political tremors. But even though many investors will believe that such a backdrop makes all-time highs in equity implausible, it has gone somewhat unnoticed amidst all the despondency that recent economic data have been healthier than expected,” Citi said.//30