PH shares stay above 7,200

The local stock barometer ended a tad higher on Thursday as foreign flows trickled to local equities.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 2.93 points or 0.04 percent to close at 7,268.38 while regional markets traded with mixed sentiment.

“The main index was able to stay above 7,200 again, however, there was very little trading (of) blue chips. If we don’t see a pickup in volume (Friday), we may see it retest support at 7,200 or even break below it,” Eagle Equities head of research Christopher Mangun said.

The day’s slight gain was led by the financial, industrial and services counters.

On the other hand, the holding firm, mining/oil and property counters declined.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.4 billion. There was P224 million in net foreign buying for the day.

There were 107 advancers that edged out 75 decliners while 53 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by AGI, which added 2.42 percent, while Jollibee, URC and Ayala Corp. all gained over 1 percent.

Metrobank and JG Summit also contributed modest gains.

Notable gainers outside the PSEi included ISM, the day’s most actively traded stock.

Its share price surged by 7.78 percent.

Investors also picked up second-liner stocks like FDC, 8990 Holdings and Lopez Holdings, which respectively advanced by 4.94 percent, 3.97 percent and 1.6 percent.

Following China president Xi Jinping’s visit to the Philippines, during which a framework for joint oil exploration was shaped up, PXP firmed up by 0.82 percent.

On the other hand, LTG fell by 2.07 percent, while San Miguel Food and Beverage, SM Investments and SM Prime all slipped.