PSEi breaches 7,900 mark

The locaL stock barometer rallied to the 7,900 mark Tuesday as stimulus bets perked up investor interest on regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) 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 net foreign buying buoyed large-cap stocks.

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

Investors bought shares of Petron, which gained 6.53 percent, while SM Prime, Metrobank and Megaworld all jumped more than 2 percent.

Ayala Land, Metro Pacific Investments, JG Summit and First Gen also gained more than 1 percent while SMIC also firmed up. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla