PH shares rally to 7,200 ahead of Xi Jinping visit

The local stock barometer rallied to the 7,200 mark on Monday ahead of China President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the Philippines.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 186.92 points or 2.64 percent to close at 7,270.26, tracking mostly upbeat regional markets.

BDO Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas attributed the PSEi’s rally to the shift of funds from developed to emerging markets, the softening in oil prices that in turn favors oil-importing countries like the Philippines as well as the strengthening of the peso against the US dollar.

Ravelas said Xi Jinping’s state visit could also help boost investor sentiment.

The rally was led by holding firms, whose sub-index surged by 3.73 percent.

The financial and services counters both gained by over 2 percent while the property counter added 1.5 percent.

Only the mining/oil counter was sluggish for the day, having slipped by 0.2 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.34 billion. Local investors drove the market higher as there was still net foreign selling amounting to P286.49 million.

There were 107 advancers that edged out 81 decliners while 49 stocks were unchanged.

GT Capital, PLDT and Megaworld led the PSEi higher, all gaining over 6 percent.

BDO, SM Investments, Security Bank and JG Summit were all up by over 4 percent. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA