Index rises for fourth straight day

The local stock barometer firmed up above 7,300 Thursday as foreign investors regained their appetite for local equities.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 31.11 points or 0.43 percent to close at 7,335.56, rising for the fourth straight session.

The day’s upswing was led by the banking counter which rose by 1.31 percent on the back of gains posted by BDO, BPI and Metrobank.

The industrial, holding firm and services counters also contributed modest gains.

The property counter fell by 1.2 percent while the mining/oil counter slipped by 0.08 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.27 billion.

Market breadth was positive, with 92 advancers edging out 82 decliners, while 51 stocks were unchanged.

There was P854 million in net foreign buying for the day.

BDO, Semirara, Globe and EDC all rose by more than 2 percent.

Ayala Corp., Metrobank, BPI and JG Summit all advanced by more than 1 percent.

The Ayala group announced Thursday a deal to buy 49 percent of online fashion marketplace Zalora Philippines.

URC, Metro Pacific, GT Capital and DMCI also contributed to the day’s gains.

Outside the PSEi, notable gainers were Puregold (+0.43 percent) and Bloomberry (+0.79 percent).

Puregold is set to debut on the PSEi starting March 13.

The property counter underperformed due to the decline of ALI and SM Prime, which both lost over 1 percent.

Security Bank likewise slipped by 1.16 percent. ICTSI and AEV also declined.

Across the region, stock markets traded with mixed sentiment after the latest US Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed that Fed officials were confident of a gradual increase in US interest rates.