PSEi inches back to 6,000 on renewed optimism over recovery
The local stock barometer climbed close to the 6,000 mark on Monday as investors picked up battered large-cap stocks in anticipation of an economic recovery after months of lockdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 29.18 points or 0.49 percent to close at 5,997.14, tracking a rally across global markets.
The PSEi ended just a few points shy of the 6,000 psychological resistance level as investors continued to gain optimism that the economy’s recovery is picking up pace, said AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun.
Mangun noted that market heavyweights SM Prime, SM Investments and ALI ended higher while companies that trekked higher despite the pandemic, Puregold, PLDT and URC, pulled back substantially.
“This tells us that investors are now more confident in other sectors of the economy [while] taking profits from issues that were high-flyers despite the pandemic,” Mangun said.
“The market will continue to move higher throughout the week,” he added.
The property counter, which rose by 2.13 percent, led the market higher while the mining/oil counter added 1.25 percent. The holding firm counter rose by 0.63 percent. The financial, industrial and services counters all declined by less than 1 percent.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P4.71 billion. There was modest net foreign selling of P59.78 million.
There were 110 advancers that edged out 99 decliners, while 37 stocks were unchanged.
ALI and Megaworld both surged by nearly 3 percent, while Globe Telecom rose by 2.21 percent.
SM Prime, SM Investments, Meralco and Metrobank all added over 1 percent, while ICTSI rose by 0.93 percent.
One notable gainer outside the PSEi was third telco player Dito, which advanced by 5.83 percent.
On the other hand, Puregold, PLDT and AGI all declined by over 2 percent.
BDO lost 1.76 percent, while Jollibee, GT Capital and BPI all shed less than 1 percent of their market capitalization.
Outside of the PSEi, notable decliners included Century Pacific, which slipped by 1.98 percent. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA INQ
