Stock index posts slight gain

The local stock barometer slightly gained yesterday, tracking a rebound across most regional markets.

Reversing a slight decline in early trade, the Philippine Stock Exchange index added 14.88 points or 0.19 percent to close at 7,848.84.

All counters firmed up slightly. However, value turnover was relatively thin at P6.46 billion.

Domestic investors supported the PSEi’s gain, as there was net foreign selling of P384 million for the day.

There were 114 advancers and 87 decliners, while 43 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by Ayala Corp., Robinsons Land and Aboitiz Power, which all gained more than 1 percent.

Metrobank, SM Prime and AEV also gained slightly.

Notable gainers outside the PSEi were Wilcon Depot, Century Properties Group and East West, which were up by 6.13 percent, 8.77 percent and 4.24 percent, respectively. Pilipinas Shell and Bloomberry also gained by 2.44 percent and 1.97 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, SM Investments, Ayala Land, ICTSI, BPI, PLDT, Semirara and Meralco slipped.

Luis Gerado Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development, said the PSEi had traded mostly flat until finally closing slightly up, mirroring the performance of the futures market, which acted as a surrogate for US stock indices during the holiday.

“Later (Wednesday), the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) minutes will be scrutinized for details to give a better sense of the extent of the cautiousness expressed by at least one Governor and a few regional presidents in light of the decline in price pressures in recent months,” Limlingan said.

PSEi technical indicators remained slightly bearish, he said.

“Although signal is above the MACD (moving average convergence divergence), both indicators are flat and do not point downwards. Negative DMI (directional movement index) is still above the positive DMI but both indicators are flat as well,” he said.

Locally, Limlingan said the release of the Philippine June inflation rate was a “non-event” as this had come in at 2.8 percent, slightly below analysts’ expectation of 3 percent.