PSEI climbs to 7,400

The local stock barometer climbed to the 7,400 level yesterday after President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address, while China’s signal of new monetary stimulus boosted regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 70.22 points or 0.95 percent to close at 7,447.02, tracking mostly upbeat regional markets as China hinted at new measures to boost economic growth.

At the local market, investors mostly welcomed Mr. Duterte’s call for support for the additional tax reform measures alongside measures to address supply constraints that contribute to higher inflation.

The PSEi was led higher by the mining/oil counter, which added 2.23 percent, while the holding firm and services counters rose by over 1 percent.

The industrial and property counters also firmed up.

Only the financial counter ended lower.

Value turnover amounted to P4.43 billion.

Local investors mostly supported the market as there was P48 million in net foreign selling.

There were 107 advancers that edged out 92 decliners while 43 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by Semirara, which rose by 4.92 percent.

Meralco, SM Investments and Globe Telecom all surged by over 3 percent.

SM Prime, GT Capital, Metro Pacific and AGI all advanced by over 1 percent, while Metrobank, Ayala Land, BPI, Ayala Corp. and RLC also firmed up.

One notable gainer outside the PSEi was Bloomberry, which surged by 5.15 percent.

On the other hand, Puregold lost 2.32 percent, while BDO declined by 1.45 percent.

URC, Megaworld and Security Bank also slipped.