PH shares mirror region’s gains, up 1.91%
Shares of newly listed MerryMart Consumer Corp. hit the price ceiling for the second straight session on Tuesday while the local stock barometer recouped some of the previous day’s losses alongside firmer regional markets.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 117.93 points, or 1.91 percent, to close at 6,281.75, tracking regional markets that were buoyed by optimism over US economic stimulus measures.Outside the PSEi, newly listed MerryMart surged by another 50 percent, the maximum price increase in a single day, to close at P2.25 a share. It was the day’s fourth most actively traded company, with P301.2 million worth of shares that traded in the open market.
The PSEi found relief following Monday’s steep 4.82-percent drop. Papa Securities said the market had been buoyed by slight optimism in the US markets once again, assisted by the US Federal Reserve’s new plan to also buy individual corporate bonds.
“As for the PSEi, support area that should be eyed in the near-term as an area to enter would be the 6,000 level—both psychological in nature as well as technical given how it was the index’s previous breakout point earlier this month,” Papa Securities said.
Domestic hands shored up the main index as there was P1.22 billion worth of net foreign selling for the day. Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.99 billion.
The PSEi was led higher on Tuesday by the financial counter, which surged by 3.29 percent.The holding firm and mining/oil counters both added over 2 percent, while the services subindex gained 1.41 percent. The property counter added 0.57 percent.
Article continues after this advertisementOnly the industrial counter was sluggish during the day, having declined by 0.5 percent.
Article continues after this advertisementThere were 141 advancers that overwhelmed 54 decliners, while 46 stocks were unchanged.
GT Capital added 6.28 percent, while ICTSI and AGI both gained over 5 percent.
BPI rose by 4.26 percent, while Ayala Corp., the most actively traded company, gained 3.33 percent.
Metrobank, Metro Pacific and SM Investments all added over 2 percent, while SM Prime climbed by 1.14 percent.
Ayala Land and PLDT both firmed up by less than 1 percent.
Outside the PSEi, notable gainers included Emperador and Philippine Seven, which rose by 0.63 percent and 0.78 percent, respectively, in relatively heavy trade.
On the other hand, URC lost 2.63 percent, while Jollibee and Puregold both slipped by over 1 percent. Meralco dipped by 0.7 percent. INQ
