PSE index up on optimism around Trump-Xi meeting

The local stock barometer resumed its upswing on Thursday as optimism over the coming meeting between US president Donald Trump and China president Xi Jinping perked up regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 44.07 points or 0.55 percent to close at 8,057.64, tracking mostly upbeat regional markets.

Investors are banking on a potential breakthrough in the trade talks when Trump and Xi meet at the G-20 meeting in Osaka on Friday and Saturday. Ahead of the actual talks, the United States and China have agreed to a tentative truce.

At the local market, domestic investors mostly kept the market afloat as net foreign selling for the day amounted to P137.94 million.

The PSEi was led higher by holding firms, which advanced by 1.22 percent, while the industrial, services and property counters also firmed up.

The financial and mining/oil counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.4 billion.

There were 115 advancers that edged out 86 decliners, while 48 stocks were unchanged.

First Gen rose by 3.64 percent, while SM Investments added 2.63 percent.

ICTSI added 1.73 percent, while PLDT and Meralco also both rose by over 1 percent.

SM Prime, BDO, Globe, Semirara and AGI all firmed up.

One notable gainer outside the PSEi was Abacore Capital, which surged by 6.9 percent.

On the other hand, Ayala Land, BPI, Metrobank, URC and Jollibee all slipped.

Outside the PSEi, Cemex fell by 2.29 percent in relatively heavy volume. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA