Turning its back on this year’s misfortunes, PSEi raring to hit 7300 next

The stock barometer resumed its upswing past 7,100 on Thursday, reversing the losses seen for most of this year, as the government moved to ease lockdown restrictions in Metro Manila.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 114.19 points, or 1.62 percent, to close at 7,183.11. It also tracked mostly upbeat regional markets.

The PSEi is now slightly ahead of its end-2020 finish of 7,139.71, after languishing for most of the year as the resurgence in COVID-19 cases triggered the reimposition of tough lockdown protocols.

“Philippine shares rallied past the 7,160 resistance after [news came out that the National Capital Region will shift] to alert level 3 starting Oct. 16, one step lower in the five-level alert system as COVID-19 cases and metrics continue to improve,” said Manny Cruz, chief strategist at Papa Securities.

Given the optimism on the economy with the easing of business restrictions, Cruz said the market would be on track to test the 7,400 to 7,500 levels.

“The PSEi, as expected, has continued to march higher following its escape above its 7,000 key resistance. With financial and consumer stocks poised to turn from their respective bases, we expect the index to build on its ongoing ascent. In fact we expect the index to not only reach but surpass its next resistance at 7,300,” said Ron Acoba, chief strategist at equities research provider Trading Edge.

According to Acoba, what may temporarily halt the PSEi’s ascent is that it is “now at the floor of a prior long-run top at 7,600.”

All counters ended higher, led by the holding firm and property counters, which both advanced by over 2 percent.

The industrial counter added 1.8 percent, while the financial, services and mining/oil counters all firmed up by less than 1 percent.

Value turnover amounted to P10.28 billion. There was modest net foreign buying of P191.1 million.

There were 111 advancers that outnumbered 86 decliners, while 45 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s upswing was led by Jollibee, which rose by 6.39 percent. Jollibee has just completed a P12-billion fundraising through the issuance of preferred shares.

Globe Telecom, the day’s most actively traded company, added 4.75 percent, while GT Capital rose by 4.18 percent.

Ayala Corp. gained 3.02 percent, while Ayala Land and SM Investments both rose by over 2 percent. SM Prime firmed up by nearly 2 percent.

Metrobank and URC both advanced by over 1 percent, while Converge and AEV added less than 1 percent.