PSEi inches up, closes at 7,761.29

The local stock barometer firmed up slightly yesterday as domestic players provided buying support as the latest MSCI rebalancing took effect.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 36.28 points or 0.47 percent to close at 7,761.29, in line with mostly buoyant regional markets.

The PSEi was led higher by the property counter, which rose by 1.53 percent, while the industrial, services and mining/oil counters also inched up.

On the other hand, the financial and holding firm counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day was heavy at P18 billion. Net foreign selling amounted to P632.59 million.

Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said judgment day finally came with MSCI’s rebalancing taking effect at the close of Tuesday’s trades. The latest changes will reduce weights on SM Prime, Ayala Land and BDO in the global standard index. Semirara will be added to the small cap index while Century Pacific will be deleted. Petron and IMI will have a higher weight while Shell Philippines and Megawide will have a reduction in weights.

“On the index’s movement: it still remains to be seen how the rebalancing would affect the PSEi, but we expect the far-off support at the recent low of 7,475 to hold. In any case, if the index does reach this level once again, we reiterate that we would treat this opportunity to enter,” Papa Securities said.

There were 100 advancers that edged out 80 decliners, while 53 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was perked up by AGI, which rose by 3.16 percent, while SM Prime added 2.21 percent.

ICTSI, Ayala Land, SM Investments, Semirara, URC, Globe Telecom, Meralco and Megaworld all gained.

On the other hand, GT Capital tumbled by 4.16 percent, while Ayala Corp., Jollibee and BPI all declined by more than 1 percent.