Market on technical rebound; PSEi closes up 0.9%

The local stock barometer retested the 7,500 mark yesterday as investors digested President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), cheering measures related to further tax reform and rice supply stabilization.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 66.98 points or 0.9 percent to close at 7.514, firming up for the second straight day since the Sona.

BDO Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas said investors had taken their cue from the Sona, during which the country’s Chief Executive pushed for the legislation of more tax measures alongside other measures to curb inflation, support the infrastructure program and broker peace in Mindanao.

Mr. Duterte had asked lawmakers to remove caps on rice imports to augment supply and cut the price of rice by as much as P7 per kilo, which Ravelas said would curb inflation by easing supply constraints.

However, Ravelas said this was just a technical rebound as the market remained bearish. He said the PSEi would have to reach 8,308 to call the bulls back into play.

The PSEi was led higher by the financial counter, which racked up 2.38 percent, while the holding firm and services counters both added over 1 percent. The property counter slightly gained.

The industrial and mining/oil counters both slipped.

Value turnover hit P6.9 billion. There was P246 million in net foreign buying for the day.

There were 125 advancers that edged out 72 decliners while 46 stocks were unchanged.

BDO and Metro Pacific led the day’s upswing, both gaining over 4 percent. Ayala Land and Puregold, meanwhile, both rose by over 3 percent.

SM Investments, BPI and Megaworld all firmed up by over 2 percent while AGI and LTG added over 1 percent.

Metrobank, Ayala Corp., Meralco and PLDT also gained.
Outside the PSEi, notable gainers included gaming stocks Bloomberry and Melco, which surged by 10.6 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively.

SM Prime and URC tumbled by over 2 percent while GT Capital and ICTSI also slipped.