PSEi ends flat; Ayala firms lead gainers

The local stock barometer ended flat yesterday ahead of a long weekend break.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added a meager 1.84 points or 0.02 percent to close at 7,958.57 while upbeat US and China economic data perked up regional markets.

“Philippine stocks finished flat on the last trading day of the month while US stocks rose on Wednesday as momentum sectors such as the technology sector climbed,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

Strong US macro data added strength to the dollar and put optimism over the labor market data to be released tomorrow, Limlingan said.

Today, financial markets will be closed in observance of the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice (Eid’l Adha).

The slight increase was led by the financial, services and mining/oil counters. On the other hand, the industrial, holding firm and property counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P11.26 billion. There was net foreign buying amounting to P426.13 million.

There were 101 advancers that edged out 84 decliners while 63 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s gains were led by Ayala Corp. and its banking arm BPI, which both rose by more than 2 percent, while Semirara and Petron both gained over 1 percent.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Security Bank, Metrobank, Energy Development Corp. and Megaworld also contributed to the PSEi’s gains.

Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers included Manila Water (+2.58 percent) and Bloomberry (+0.72 percent).

On the other hand, SM Investments and URC fell by more than 1 percent while BDO, SM Prime, ICTSI and GT Capital also slipped.