PSEi gains 0.19% ahead of Monetary Board meet

The local stock barometer slightly gained on Wednesday ahead of the monetary policy setting of the Philippine and US central banks.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 14.79 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 7,858.20. Elsewhere in the region, trading sentiment was mixed.

Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said the market lacked catalyst until the monetary setting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (today) and the latest policy stance to be issued by the US Federal Reserve.

The March 21 policy meeting of the BSP is the first under its new chief, Benjamin Diokno, who is deemed in favor of easier monetary settings.  Investors are thus closely awaiting the result of today’s meeting.

The local market was led by the mining/oil counter, which rose by 2.15 percent, while the property counter added 1.02 percent.

The financial, industrial and services counters all gained.

Value turnover for the day hit P5.46 billion. There were 102 advancers and 78 decliners while 68 stocks were unchanged.

Foreigners were net sellers, resulting in a net outflow of P370.72 million for the day.

Security Bank led the PSEi higher with its 4.1-percent gain, followed by LTG which advanced by 3.25 percent.

Ayala Land, SM Prime, PLDT, GT Capital, URC and AGI all firmed up by over 1 percent.

BDO, ICTSI and RLC all gained by less than 1 percent.

One notable gainer outside the PSEi was Premiere Horizon, which surged by 7.41 percent.  Another was FDC, which rose by 4.55 percent.

The PSEi’s gain was tempered by the decline of Metrobank , which lost 2.99 percent.