Mines continue to rise as market firms up

The local stock barometer firmed up slightly on Wednesday, tracking mostly upbeat regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 36.15 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 7,840.86. Led by nickel miners, the mining/oil counter continued to rise, gaining 3.23 percent for the day.

In a research note, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said: “We expect the Philippines to see modest growth in nickel mine production in 2019 due to restarting mines and gains from current operations. We maintain our subdued nickel mining growth outlook for the Philippines over the medium to long term, underpinned by the country’s stringent environmental regulations and policy uncertainty that will undermine investment into the Philippine’s thin nickel project pipeline.”

Fitch Solutions, however, highlighted upside potential to production following the announcement that Indonesia would move forward with a nickel ore export ban, which it said would likely increase demand for Philippine nickel ore.

The holding firm counter added 1.38 percent, while the financial and property counters slightly gained. On the other hand, the services counter fell by 1.53 percent while the industrial counter shed 0.39 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.53 billion.

“The index has more or less moved like US markets in its trading range lately. Support should the downward movement continue in the coming days would be at the index’s recent lows around 7,620,” local stockbrokerage Papa Securities said.

There were 102 decliners for the day against 100 advancers while 47 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was boosted by SM Investments, which added 3.82 percent, while BDO gained 2.11 percent. Ayala Land, SM Prime, JG Summit and GT Capital also firmed up.

Investors also turned to non-PSEi stocks for trading opportunities. Nickel Asia continued to rise, adding another 8.89 percent in heavy value turnover.

Meanwhile, Pepsi-Cola rose 8.33 percent while ISM and Phinma Energy added 8.33 percent and 6.45 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, ICTSI and Globe Telecom both tumbled by more than 3 percent while Megaworld, PLDT and Jollibee all lost over 1 percent. Ayala Corp. and Metrobank also declined.

One notable decliner outside the PSEi was Cemex, which fell by 7.67 percent after announcing board approval for a $250-million stock rights offer.