The local stock barometer inched up for the second straight session on Thursday but the ongoing P29-billion Converge ICT stock debut dried up market liquidity.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 13.03 points, or 0.22 percent, to close at 5,938.33. Elsewhere in the region, trading was mostly sluggish.
Value turnover for the day was extremely low at P3.42 billion due to the initial public offering of Converge ICT which would end on Friday (Oct. 16).
“The PSEi ended flat with slight gains. This has been the trend for the last five trading days as it has seemed to have found an equilibrium between buying and selling. It has hovered around 5,900, right in the middle of its range between its support at 5,800 and resistance at 6,000. This just shows how cautious the sentiment is right now and that it can’t decide whether to go higher or lower,” said AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun.
The miniscule gains were due to advances made by large-cap blue chips, offsetting substantial losses in small-to mid-cap issues, Mangun noted.
“Investors are looking to the economy’s recovery for a boost of confidence and if we do not see that soon, the market may go significantly lower,” he added.
Domestic hands kept the market steady while foreigners mostly dumped shares, resulting in P902.75 million in net foreign selling.
There were 104 advancers that edged out 80 decliners, while 62 stocks were unchanged.
The PSEi was led higher by Metrobank, which gained 2.2 percent. ICTSI, SM Prime, LTG and SM Investments all rose by over 1 percent.
Metro Pacific, BPI, JG Summit and Meralco all gained less than 1 percent.
Investors turned to non-PSEi stocks for trading opportunities. The day’s most actively traded company was Now Corp., which surged by 0.77 percent.
Other notable gainers outside the PSEi were MerryMart, which rose by 6.58 percent. AC Energy also went up by 3.88 percent. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA