PSEI marks another first as it pushes past 9,000

The stock barometer climbed past the 9,000 barrier for the first time in history on Friday as fund managers scouted for fresh buying opportunities in anticipation of another strong year for equities.

After a sluggish start, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained strength in afternoon trade, ending the session with a gain of 42.03 points or 0.47 percent to a new record high of 9,041.20, which likewise marked a new intraday peak.

“The outlook on the market is still positive and fund managers are deploying fund allocations for the year,” said Gonzalo Benjamin Bongolan, head of merchant banking group at local investment house Philippine Commercial Capital Corp.

The PSEi was led higher by the holding firm counter, which added 1.02 percent, while the industrial, services and property counters also held strong.

The financial and mining/oil counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.83 billion. Domestic investors fueled the day’s record rise as foreign investors were net sellers of some P242.25 million.

There were 110 advancers that beat 97 decliners, while 52 stocks were unchanged.

The country’s largest conglomerate SM Investments Corp. led the PSEi’s upswing, advancing by 3.64 percent.

Ayala Land rose by 1.06 percent while BDO Unibank, SM Prime, Ayala Corp., Puregold, URC, AGI and GT Capital all contributed gains.

Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers included Megawide, which added 4.85 percent.

Now Corp., an aspiring third telco player, rose by 3.21 percent.

Metrobank declined by 2.31 percent while LTG and DMCI both fell by over 1 percent. Security Bank, Megaworld and BPI all slipped.

For the week, the PSEi racked up a total of 125.28 points or 1.4 percent.