Market gains 1.08%

The local stock barometer yesterday rallied on selective buying of large cap-stocks, led by a rebound in share prices of big banks.

Tracking mostly upbeat regional markets, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 95.18 points or 1.08 percent to close at 8,915.92.

The index was led by BPI, which surged by 7.39 percent and was the day’s most actively traded company.

Metrobank also rose by 2.04 percent while its parent conglomerate GT Capital Holdings rose by 6.34 percent.

Both BPI and Metrobank recently announced massive stock rights offering plans, respectively amounting to P50 billion and P60 billion.

BDO, SM Investments and AGI all added over 1 percent while Jollibee, PLDT and URC also contributed gains.

Outside of PSEi stocks, notable gainers included Now Corp., which surged by 45.99 percent, and EasyCall, which rose by 30.2 percent, as investors speculated which companies could benefit from the opening of the telecom sector to a new player.

D&L also went up by 3.57 percent.

On the other hand, RLC slipped by 1.48 percent while Ayala Land, Ayala Corp., SM Prime and Security Bank all declined.

Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative. There were 127 decliners that outnumbered 105 advancers while 54 stocks were unchanged.

There were net foreign inflows amounting to P92.1 million.