PSEi sets new high for 2016

THE LOCAL stock barometer returned to the 8,000 level on Tuesday as a record-high finish of Wall Street stocks boosted investors’ confidence.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 49.76 points or 0.62 percent to close at the intra-day high of 8,036.01, its best finish for the year.

Most counters firmed up on the back of sustained foreign buying. Only the mining/oil counter was in the doldrums.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P9.31 billion. There were 105 advancers that edged out 85 decliners while 55 stocks were unchanged.

Net foreign buying for the day amounted to P973 million.

Overnight, US stocks hit record highs following the run-up for seven sessions.

“In the US, stocks continued along their path of least resistance to fresh record highs led by the technology sector following the £24 billion bid from Japan’s Softbank for U.K. chip designer ARM and ahead of key earnings from IBM, Netflix (a shocker) and Yahoo! after the bell. This happened despite U.S. home builder confidence waning marginally during July,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital.

Limlingan also cited a string of favorable domestic economic data, including the country’s external surplus.

The PSEi was led higher by AEV, which rose by 3.35 percent while ICTSI – the day’s most actively traded company – surged by 2.41 percent.

Investors also gobbled up shares of Globe and SM Prime, which both rose by over 1 percemt.

SMIC, AC, Metrobank, GTCAP, JG Summit, BPI and Jollibee also contributed to the PSEi’s gains.

Outside the PSEi, notable gainers included Security Bank (+1.76 percent), Puregold (+0.65 percent) and DoubleDragon (+1.61 percent) which all rose in heavy volume. DoubleDragon recently obtained PSE approval to list its P10 billion preferred shares.

Meanwhile, ALI and PLDT slipped. Newly-listed Cemex also succumbed to profit-taking, declining by 0.9 percent on its second day of trading.