Stocks close marginally higher; services sector leads gainers

Philippine stocks were little changed Tuesday as investors weighed economic indicators coming out of markets overseas.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index closed the session higher by 0.09 percent (6.74 points) to 7,323.31 while the broader all-shares index was also up 0.02 percent to 4,405.37.

Subsectors were mixed yesterday. Industrial, holding firms and mining and oil were all slightly lower. Services, up 65 percent, led gainers.

“Our local market shrugged off an anemic performance from the US, which struggled for traction before they close narrowly mixed in a marginally more defensive tone,” Luis Gerado Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development, said in a text message Tuesday.

Data from the PSE showed that 1.39 billion shares valued at P7.67 billion changed hands yesterday. Losers matched gainers at 98-98 while 46 companies closed unchanged.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was the most actively traded company on Tuesday, as it lost 2.21 percent to P6.20 per share.

It was followed by SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 0.52 percent to P28.50, Ayala Corp., down 0.3 percent to P827.50, BDO Unibank Inc., up 0.81 percent to P125, and International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 3.1 percent to P88.1 per share.