PH shares inch up on rally in US equities

The local stock barometer firmed up on Tuesday, tracking improved sentiment in Wall Street.The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 8.54 points, or 0.12 percent, to close at 7,439.40.

“Global equities markets ended higher today led by the rally in US equities in last night’s session as gains in mega-cap tech shares overshadowed concerns on the global impact of the novel coronavirus,” said AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun.

The sentiment improved slightly as Chinese factories are slowly resuming operations despite the death toll climbing past 1,000, he added.

“We could say that today was the calmest day of blue chip trading in the last two weeks. We may see it go lower toward the 7,200 support level in the coming days as investors assess the situation. The general investor sentiment remains anxious as investors anticipate the effects of the disease on our economy,” Mangun added.

Except for the services counter, all other indices firmed up, led by the mining/oil counter, which added 1.18 percent.

Value turnover was thin at P4.48 billion. There was a modest net foreign outflow of P80.9 million.

There were 91 advancers versus 89 decliners while 55 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led by Jollibee and GT Capital, which both rose by over 1 percent.

SM Prime and LTG also firmed up.

Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers included ISM and Euro-Med, which rose by 5.69 percent and 4.04 percent, respectively.

Cosco Capital also rose by 4.62 percent while gaming holding firm PLC added 2.04 percent.

On the other hand, Metro Pacific declined by 2.48 percent, while PLDT and URC fell by over 1 percent.

Ayala Land, Ayala Corp., BPI and Megaworld all slipped.

ABS-CBN’s Philippine depositary receipts fell by 4.29 percent following a petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General to nullify the franchise of the broadcasting firm. INQ