PH stocks gain more ground

The local stock barometer firmed up for the fourth straight session yesterday, flirting with the 7,400 mark in intra-day trade in line with mostly upbeat regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 48.6 points or 0.66 percent to close at 7,399.18.  The index hit as high as 7,405.42 in intra-day trade.

Across regional markets, stock markets were mostly higher as US-China trade war jitters have waned for now.

Investors took heart from upbeat trading on Wall Street overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 224.44 points or 0.91 percent.

Except for the services counter, all sub-indices ended higher at the local market.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.45 billion. There was modest net foreign selling of P37.78 million for the day.

There were 103 advancers that edged out 91 decliners while 46 stocks were unchanged.

JG Summit led the PSEi higher with its 3.73-percent gain.  Security Bank added 2.22 percent while SM Prime and Metro Pacific both advanced by over 1 percent.

SM Investments, Ayala Land, Jollibee, GT Capital, PLDT, Meralco and Megaworld also contributed gains.

On the other hand, Metrobank and Puregold both slipped by over 1 percent.  Ayala Corp. and BDO also faltered.

One notable decliner outside the PSEi was TBGI, which slid by 12.9 percent after surging by nearly 38 percent on Thursday on the back of a third telco play.