Main stock price index recovers to 7,500

The local stock barometer rebounded to the 7,500 level on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 159.22 points, or 2.15 percent to close at 7,579.62.

“Today’s gains are exactly what the market needed to maintain the positive momentum. We may get a pullback [Thursday] but if trading volumes continue to pick up, we may end the week closer to 7,700,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at Eagle Equities Inc.

“Foreigners were net sellers again today, however, foreign net selling was a measly P72.9 million,” he added.

Investors have priced in a prospective increase in the targeted fund rate of the US Federal Reserve.

All counters were up, led by the financial, holding firm and mining/oil counters, which all added more than 2 percent.

The property counter gained 1.93 percent, while the services counter rose by 1.1 percent. The industrial counter firmed up.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P5.97 billion.

There were 124 advancers that overwhelmed 60 decliners, while 50 stocks were unchanged.

JG Summit led the PSEi higher with its 6.67-percent gain, while AEV added 5.52 percent.

BDO Unibank rose by nearly 4 percent while SM Investments added 3.26 percent.

SM Prime racked up 2.87 percent, while GT Capital and PLDT all rose by more than 2 percent.

Jollibee, ICTSI, Ayala Land, Metrobank and BPI all gained by more than 1 percent, while Globe Telecom, URC, AGI and Meralco all firmed up.

On the other hand, San Miguel fell by 1.4 percent, while Ayala Corp. slipped by 0.49 percent.