Local investors push market higher on bullish sentiment in Wall Street

The local stock barometer firmed up Monday as investors took heart from buoyant sentiment in Wall Street.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 36.4 points or 0.5 percent to close at 7,281.19.

“The PSEi aligned with US markets, which rose to its seventh successive record session as an M&A (merger-and-acquisition) deal in the staples segment helped to counter weakness in energy,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at local stockbrokerage Regina Capital Development.

Limlingan also noted a string of upbeat economic data out of the US.

But trading volume was lackluster, Limlingan said, as US markets were closed Monday for the President Day holiday.

At the local market, all counters were up but a rebound in the mining/oil counter (+1.61 percent) led the day’s upswing.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.61 billion.

There were 97 advancers, which narrowly edged out 96 decliners, while 45 stocks were unchanged.

Semirara led the PSEi higher with its 2.92-percent gain. It was also the day’s most actively traded company. Parent company DMCI also rose by 1.54 percent.

GT Capital gained 1.56 percent while BDO, Globe, ICTSI, BPI, SM Prime, PLDT, AC, AGI, URC and MPI also contributed to the day’s gains.

On the other hand, ALI, Megaworld and Meralco all slipped.

Outside of the PSEi, investors picked up second-liner stocks like Puregold (+0.9 percent), D&L Industries (+3.53 percent), Pilipinas Shell (+1.07 percent) and Megawide (+2.88 percent). These companies traded in heavy volume.

Local investors supported the market as there was net foreign selling worth about P394 million.