Market back to 7,000 level

The local stock market on Thursday rallied back to the 7,000 level as bets of sustained easy monetary policy by the European Central Bank perked up global markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 155.57 points or 2.27 percent to close at 7,022.38, outperforming regional indices.

The rally was led by the interest rate-sensitive property counter, which rose by 4.07 percent while industrial and services counters both gained 2 percent. Only the mining/oil counter ended lower.

Manuel Lisbona, president of PNB Securities, said the day’s upswing was reflective of “much-improved market sentiment on the back of Wall Street gains overnight and increasing optimism that the European Central Bank will extend its stimulus program.”

Citigroup said expectations of quantitative easing (QE) extension from ECB at the same pace of 80 billion euros a month seemed to have risen lately.

At the local market, value turnover for the day hit P7.47 billion.  There were 120 advancers and 63 decliners while 44 stocks were unchanged.

By counter, ALI led the day’s rally, rising by 5.03 percent.  It was the day’s most actively traded stock.

PLDT, SM Prime, JG Summit were all up by over 4 percent while URC and Jollibee grew 3 by percent.

Ayala Corp. rose by 2.7 percent while Megaworld, GT Capital, ICTSI and DMCI all gained over 1 percent. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla