PH stocks continue uptrend

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Local stock prices rallied for a second straight session to lift the main index back to the 4,300 level on Thursday, defying an overnight bloodbath on Wall Street caused by jitters over slow US economic growth.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 38.52 points or about 0.9 percent to finish at 4,324.98.

The upswing was led by the mining/oil and holding firm counters, which surged by 2.65 percent and 1.95 percent, respectively.  The property and services counters traded in the red.

Turnover amounted to P4.8 billion.  Selective buying propped up the main index as despite the overall index gain, there were more decliners (71) than advancers (63) while 40 stocks were unchanged in the overall market.

For the second straight day, San Miguel Corp. was the most actively traded stock although it is not part of the PSEi.   SMC, now trading higher than the price of P110 per share at which secondary shares were recently sold to the public, crept up by 0.26 percent to P114.30 per share.

The index stocks that led the PSEi higher were Lepanto A (open only to local investors), Meralco, FPH, ICTSI, Metrobank, Philex, Metro Pacific Investments, DMCI, Lepanto B (open to both local and foreign investors), Aboitiz Power, BDO and ALI.

East Asia Power Resources also made it to the day’s list of actively traded stocks, rising by a hefty 25 percent to P0.65 on news that the Century property group was taking over the company.

Joseph Roxas, president of local brokerage Eagle Equities, said the index may now be on the way up.

There was a rush among foreign investors to unload equities in May likely to close the first-semester fiscal books ending May, for those with a fiscal year that ends in November instead of December.

But now, he said, momentum for local stocks to resume their climb seemed to be gaining.

The index hit a record high of around 4,400 in early November last year, a major resistance that is widely believed to be re-tested within this year, if not within this second quarter.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial index tumbled by 279.65 points or 2.22 percent to 12,290.14 on news of sluggish manufacturing and company hiring.