PSEi finally smashes 7,000 hurdle in best performance in 4 months

Tracking upbeat US and regional markets, the local stock barometer breached the 7,000 barrier to close at a four-month high on Friday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 38.25 points or 0.55 percent to close at its intraday peak of 7,002.26 as some foreign funds flowed into the market.

For the week, the index added 51.75 points or 0.7 percent.

Friday’s closing marked the PSEi’s best level since ending at 7,044.06 on February 16, 2021.

This suggests that the market is back to levels last seen before the resurgence of new local COVID-19 cases that triggered the tightening of quarantine restrictions in March.

The government has started to ease mobility restrictions anew as local government units intensified their COVID-19 rollout.

On Friday, value turnover amounted to P5.85 billion. The market was perked up by about P754 million worth of net foreign buying, coming from a P4-billion net selling on Thursday.

There were 108 advancers that edged out 100 decliners, while 36 stocks were unchanged.

Investors picked up shares of ICTSI and DMCI, which both gained over 3 percent.

Puregold added 2.22 percent, while Ayala Land rose by 1.1 percent.

SM Prime, Ayala Corp., BDO and Globe Telecom all added less than 1 percent. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA