PSEi back at 8,000

The local stock barometer rallied back to the 8,000 level Monday as a disappointing US economic growth data rekindled bets that the US Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates too soon.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 106.7 points or 1.34 percent to close at 8,069.81.

All counters ended higher, led by the holding firms, which went up by 1.48 percent, followed by the property counter, which increased by 1.34 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P7.32 billion with 120 advancers and 82 decliners. There was P735 million in net foreign buying for the day.

Manny Cruz, chief strategist at Asiasec Equities, said the PSEi’s increase was “inspired by the prognosis that the Fed rate hike will be delayed” alongside a good influx of foreign buying on expectations of better Philippine second-quarter gross domestic product growth, which will be released this August.

The PSEi’s increase was led by GT Capital Holdings Inc., which rose 3.25 percent, followed by SMIC, BPI, SMPH, PLDT and URC, which all advanced by more than 2 percent. Ayala Corp, BDO, MPIC and ALI all gained more than 1 percent.

Outside the PSEi, Security Bank (+1.37 percent), Vitarich (+7.91 percent), Cebu Air (+4.31 percent) and Cemex (+2.18 percent) gained in heavy volume.

Jollibee and Globe slid by 1.57 percent and 0.71 percent, respectively. Non-PSEi stock DoubleDragon Properties slipped by 3.75 percent.

Local stockbrokerage AB Capital Securities said that with the index again breaching the primary 8,000 resistance level, the new support level with secondary support was at 7,950. Primary and secondary resistance levels were seen higher at 8,100 and 8,150, respectively, AB Capital said.

On Friday, it was reported that second-quarter GDP in the US had grown by 1.2 percent year-on-year, much lower than the consensus estimate of 2.5 percent. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla and Bernadette D. Nicolas