PSEi refuses to play victim, gains strength at 7,900

The local stock barometer rebounded to the 7,900 level on Wednesday as investors picked up bargains after a two-day bloodbath caused by the escalating US-China trade war.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) recouped 150.64 points or 1.94 percent to close at 7,917.39, outperforming most regional markets.

Apart from regional jitters, investors also continued to price in local corporate earnings reports.

Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said the PSEi was taking a breather from the drop in the last two days, ahead of a ton of catalysts for Thursday: MSCI rebalancing, second quarter Philippine gross domestic product growth, potential PSEi rebalancing and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policy meeting.

Among the sub-indices, the financial counter posted the sharpest gain of 4.04 percent, as most banking issues have reported strong second quarter earnings results.

The holding firm and property counters both added over 1 percent while the industrial and services counters both firmed up.

Only the mining/oil counter slipped.

Value turnover amounted to P6.64 billion. Foreigners were net sellers of about P342 million, while local investors hunted for bargains.

There were 112 advancers versus 75 decliners, while 60 stocks were unchanged.

BPI, Security Bank and BDO surged by 6.21 percent, 5.25 percent and 4.04 percent, respectively.

SM Investments added 3.13 percent, while SM Prime, ICTSI, Metrobank, GT Capital and Megaworld all rose by over 2 percent.

Ayala Corp., JG Summit, URC and AGI all added over 1 percent.

Ayala Land, Meralco and Globe Telecom posted modest gains.

On the other hand, Jollibee and PLDT bucked the day’s upswing, both declining by over 1 percent.

Outside the PSEi, one notable decliner was D&L, which lost 5.5 percent after second quarter results disappointed investors.