PSEi gains 0.61% as investors go bargain-hunting
The real estate investment trust of property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. began its P14.7-billion initial public offering on Wednesday as the local stock barometer returned to the 6,800 mark.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) recouped 41.49 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 6,808.32, firming up for the second straight session on selective buying of large-cap stocks. This was in line with upbeat US and Asian markets.
“The PSEi recovered further as buyers picked up shares of companies that took a beating at the beginning of the week. The sentiment improved slightly, as panic-selling was calmed by the fact that new (coronavirus) COVID-19 cases came in below the 3,000 mark (on Tuesday),” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at stock brokerage AAA Equities.
“The slow recovery in [Philippine] employment for the month of January emphasized the importance of not returning to a hard lockdown. The main index would have climbed higher if not for losses in blue chip bank stocks, mainly BDO and Metrobank. The PSEi has held support at the 6,600 to 6,700 area; however, the current bounce is attributed to bargain-hunting which means we may not see it get very far,” he added.Meanwhile, the main index was led higher by holding firms, which rose by 1.38 percent, while the industrial, services and property counters added less than 1 percent.The financials and mining/oil counters declined by over 1 percent.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P11.07 billion. There was P78.87 million worth of net foreign selling.
Some of the liquidity in the market has been mopped up by the stock market debut of DDMP REIT, which began its offering at P2.25 per share on Wednesday through March 16.
PNB Capital, Credit Suisse, DBS, and Nomura act as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners together with RCBC Capital, ICCP, Macquarie, Maybank Kim Eng and CIMB.
Meanwhile, market breadth was negative despite the PSEi’s gain on Wednesday. There were 155 decliners that outnumbered 72 advancers, while 34 stocks were unchanged.
AGI led the PSEi higher with its 4.06 percent gain, while PLDT racked up 2.47 percent.
Index heavyweight SM Investments rose by 1.63 percent, while ICTSI, Ayala Land, BPI, Jollibee and Meralco all added less than 1 percent.
