PSEi crawls up ahead of US data

The local stock barometer crawled higher for the second trading session on Thursday ahead of the upcoming release of US jobs data and next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 0.89 points or 0.01 percent to close at 7,295.45 on selective buying of large- cap stocks. Elsewhere in the region, most stock markets also traded with caution.

“Philippine markets once again traded flat to slightly up as the market waited for additional cues ahead of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting happening next week in the US. This happened despite the S&P 500 and the Dow falling for a third session Wednesday as oil prices settled at a three-month low, dragging on energy stocks,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

The US Fed is widely expected to raise its interest rates anew during its meeting next week. But ahead of the meeting, several key economic data are coming out of the US.

“Later today and tomorrow, more critical economic data point will be released: continuing jobless claims (Thursday night), US non-farm payrolls (Friday) and the unemployment rate (Friday),” Limlingan said.

At the local market, the main index was shored up by the holding firm, services and mining/oil counters. On the other hand, the financial, industrial and property counters all dipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.59 billion. There was a modest net foreign selling of P60 million.

Despite the PSEi’s meager gain, market breadth was negative as 105 decliners outnumbered 84 advancers while 44 stocks were unchanged.

First Gen led the PSEi higher with its 2.27 percent gain. PLDT and Jollibee also aided the PSEi, both gaining over 1 percent.

SM Investments, LTG, Security Bank and JG Summit also firmed up.

Outside of the main index, one notable gainer was Puregold, which rose by 3.21 percent ahead of its debut on the PSEi by Monday (March 13).

Other notable gainers among second-liner stocks were Bloomberry (+3.77 percent) and Shakey’s Pizza (+5.2 percent).

On the other hand, URC slipped by 1.78 percent while Ayala Corp., Globe Telecom, Metro Pacific, ICTSI and BPI also declined.

Second-liners D&L Industries and Melco Crown also traded lower.