Stock price index ends above 8,300

The local stock barometer firmed up above the 8,300 mark yesterday as investors priced in the latest rebalancing of MSCI indices, which are closely tracked by large fund managers.

Reversing early losses, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended 49.62 points or 0.6-percent higher to close at 8,379.64.

The PSEi was led higher by Meralco, which rose by 5.3 percent and was the day’s most actively traded stock.

MSCI has announced that Meralco would be added to its global standard index at the close of Nov. 30.

It was also announced that East West Bank and Megawide, both non-PSEi stocks, would be added to the MSCI Global Small Cap index. On the other hand, RCBC and Xurpas would be deleted from the same index.

East West Bank and Megawide, respectively, gained by 3.23 percent and 0.75 percent. On the other hand, Xurpas fell by 10.33 percent while RCBC dropped by 4.91 percent.

By subindex, the PSEi was perked up by holding firms and mining/oil counters, which both rose by more than 1 percent. The industrial counter also firmed up. The financial, services and property counters declined.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.88 billion. There was a modest net foreign buying of P55 million for the day.

There were 111 decliners that edged out 76 advancers while 51 stocks were unchanged.

SM Investments also buoyed the PSEi with its 2.31-percent gain while BPI added 1.82 percent.

Metrobank and Jollibee both advanced by more than 1 percent while Metro Pacific also contributed a modest gain.

Outside of MSCI additions, one notable gainer was NOW Corp., which surged by 8.46 percent.

On the other hand, Puregold lost 3.35 percent while BDO and Security Bank both shed more than 1 percent.

PLDT, Ayala Corp. and URC all slipped.