Property companies spur PSEi uptick

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose on Thursday as large property companies advanced.

The PSEi ended the session up 0.61 percent, or 47.46 points, to 7,894.45 while the broader all shares index rose 0.45 percent or 21.6 points to 4,867.66.

The property subsector gained 2.17 percent, followed by services, up 0.63 percent and financials, up 0.53 percent.

Ending in the red were mining and oil, which lost 0.66 percent, followed by holding firms, down 0.42 percent and industrial, down 0.12 percent.

A total of 743.9 million shares valued at P6.5 billion changed hands on Thursday, data from the PSE showed. There were 96 gainers against 92 losers while 57 companies closed unchanged.

Ayala Land Inc. was again the most actively traded on Thursday as it gained 3.13 percent to P49.50 per share.

It was followed by GT Capital Holdings, up 0.12 percent to P852, SM Prime Holdings, up 2 percent to P40.80, International Container Terminal Services, up 2.14 percent to P124, and BDO Unibank Inc., up 0.3 percent to P134 per share.

Other actively traded companies were Jollibee Foods Corp., up 0.87 percent to P303, Ayala Corp., up 0.11 percent to P885, Megaworld Corp., down 0.18 percent to P5.59, Metropolitan Bank and Trust, up 1.52 percent to P76.85, and PXP Energy Corp., down 7.25 percent to P8.57 per share.