PH stock index retests 7,300 mark, closes higher on inflow of foreign funds

The local stock barometer retested the 7,300 mark on Monday, ending higher for the third straight session as foreign funds flowed in despite the looming US interest rate hike.

Reversing early losses on the back of mostly firmer regional markets, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 66.75 points or 0.92 percent to close at 7,313.87.

The day’s gains were led by the property and services counters, which rose by over 1 percent. Only the industrial counter ended in negative territory.

“Philippine markets bucked the downtrend in the afternoon given much rosier prospects compared to other counterparts: China set a slightly lower economic growth target for 2017 as the country’s lawmakers began their annual meeting on Sunday,” said Luis Gerado Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

China’s Premier Li Keqiang called for economic growth this year of “around 6.5 percent or higher, if possible,” slightly more modest than both last year’s target of 6.5 percent to 7 percent and actual growth of 6.7 percent.

Investors loaded up on local shares despite expectations that the US Federal Reserve was on course to hike interest rates later this month.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said on Monday that the local monetary authority was in no rush to adjust local interest rates this March, noting that financial markets had already priced in the likely rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. The next US Federal Open Market Committee meeting is on March 14-15.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.62 billion. There was net foreign buying of P760 million for the day which perked up the market.

There were 107 advancers that edged out 75 decliners while 46 stocks were unchanged.

Investors picked up shares of leading conglomerate SM Investments, which rose by 2.06 percent, while BDO Unibank, SM Prime, JG Summit, AGI, ICTSI, Semirara and PLDT all added over 1 percent.

Ayala Land Inc. and Ayala Corp. also firmed up.

Notable gainers outside the PSEi included RRHI (+1.25 percent) and Century Pacific (+0.12 percent) which were among the most heavily traded stocks for the day.

On the other hand, Jollibee slipped by 1.49 percent while Metrobank declined by 0.37 percent.

Notable decliners included Puregold, which fell by 0.99 percent on profit-taking ahead of its debut on the PSEi this March 13. Megawide also declined by 2.87 percent.