Bargain-hunting lifts PH stocks

The local stock barometer firmed up above the 7,600 mark on Thursday, as domestic bargain-hunting made up for sluggish foreign investor appetite.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 59.51 points or 0.79 percent to close at 7,617.42 while regional markets traded with mixed sentiment.

The property counter advanced by 2.12 percent while the holding firm counter added 1.07 percent.

The industrial and services counters slightly gained.

On the other hand, the financial and mining/oil counters declined.

Value turnover was thin at P5.11 billion. There were 112 advancers that beat 89 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged.

Domestic buyers supported the stock market’s rebound as there was P488 million in net foreign selling for the day.

The PSEi was led higher by JG Summit, which rose by 3.81 percent, while Ayala Land added 3.02 percent.

Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific and URC all added over 2 percent while SM Prime rose by 1.82 percent.

SM Investments and ICTSI both gained.

Outside of PSEi stocks, notable gainers included third telecom player aspirant Now Corp., which surged by 17.08 percent, while Megawide gained 2.17 percent. Eagle Cement added 1.46 percent.

On the other hand, DMCI lost 5.46 percent while Meralco fell by 3.65 percent. Metrobank slipped by 2.57 percent while Jollibee and BDO also declined.