The local stock barometer firmed up for the second session in a row on Wednesday, tracking mostly upbeat global equities markets.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 60.67 points or 0.89 percent to close at 6,866.81. Elsewhere in the region, markets were mostly higher, tracking the overnight gains in Wall Street, as investors digested Italy’s vote against constitutional reform.
The gains were capped, however, by some caution ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting on Dec. 13-14, during which the US central bank is widely expected to hike interest rates.
At the local market on Wednesday, the gains were led by the financial and holding firm counters which both rose by over 1 percent while the industrial, services and property firms also gained.
Only the mining/oil counter was sluggish for this session.
Value turnover was thin at P4.98 billion. There were 88 advancers versus 89 decliners while 47 stocks were unchanged.
The PSE was led higher by GT Capital and AEV which both surged by over 4 percent while Security Bank and PLDT were both up by over 2 percent.
BDO, DMCI, SMIC, SM Prime and Globe were all up by over 1 percent while Metrobank and Jollibee also contributed modest gains.
Outside of the PSEi, one notable gainer was Arthaland which surged by 48.48 percent after raising P2 billion in preferred shares and announcing a P30-billion five-year expansion program.
On the other hand, DoubleDragon rebounded by 8.19 percent after a steep fall on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, JG Summit and MPI were both down by over 1 percent while URC, ALI and AC also slipped.
On Tuesday, global credit watcher Fitch Ratings said economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region would broadly hold up well, even as many emerging market (EM) countries in the region had been severely hit by persistently sluggish world trade due to their relative openness.
“The outlook for EM Asia sovereign ratings in 2017 is stable, but potential vulnerabilities include increased protectionism, a stronger US dollar and higher political risk across both advanced and emerging economies,” Fitch said.
Nine of the 11 Fitch-rated EM Asia sovereigns carry a stable outlook.