PSEi overcomes slow start, rises past 6,800

After a rough start, the local stock barometer gained past 6,800 on Tuesday as investors welcomed the US Federal Reserve’s dovish monetary stance.

Reopening after a long weekend break, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 68.82 points or 1.01 percent to close at 6,855.44, as foreign funds trickled to the market on the back of improved risk-taking and month-end window-dressing activities.

The local stock market tracked mostly firmer regional markets, although gains were capped by the reality that local COVID-19 cases continued to break into new highs amid constraints of the health-care industry.

Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank was not in a hurry to start raising key interest rates, although the tapering of monthly bond buying operations—part of its quantitative easing of monetary policy—would start within this year.

Except for the financial counter which slipped by 0.67 percent, all counters ended higher.

The market was led by the industrial counter, which rose by 2 percent.

The holding firm and mining/oil subindices added 1.7 percent and 1.09 percent, respectively, while the services counter rose by 0.92 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P14.85 billion.

Despite the PSE’s gain, market breadth was negative. There were 120 decliners that overwhelmed 65 advancers, while 55 companies were unchanged.

Month-end window-dressing activities on large-cap stocks also contributed to the selective buying.

AC Energy, ICTSI and URC all advanced by over 4 percent, while SM Investments added 3.49 percent.

Jollibee rose by 1.1 percent, while BPI and ALI firmed up by less than 1 percent.

On the other hand, Globe Telecom fell by 4.49 percent as investors pocketed gains after the sharp gains in previous days.

Meralco, BDO, Metrobank and GT Capital all declined by over 1 percent.

Ayala Corp., PLDT, Converge and MPIC all slipped by less than 1 percent. INQ