PH stocks trade sideways

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) continued to trade sideways on Tuesday as most investors stayed on the sidelines during the Christmas holiday season.

By the closing bell, the PSEi added 0.44 percent, or 31.70 points, to 7,286.50 while the all-shares index rose 0.39 percent, or 14.95 points, to 3,857.91.

Analysts expect the benchmark measure to trade within the 7,000-7,300 range, barring any unexpected economic news or developments on the Omicron coronavirus variant that has spread globally.

Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development, also attributed Tuesday’s slight uptick to year-end window dressing.

PSE subsectors were mostly higher while trading volume rose from the last session.

Mining stocks rose 1.5 percent on news the government had finalized an order to lift the ban on open-pit mining.

It was followed by the industrial subindex, up 1.21 percent; services, up 0.84 percent; holding firms, up 0.55 percent; and financials, up 0.25 percent.

Property stocks declined 0.13 percent.

PSE data showed 3.31 billion shares valued at P5.1 billion. There were 115 gainers against 75 decliners while 52 companies closed unchanged.

Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., which reversed early session gains to fall 5.07 percent to P1.31 per share, was the most actively traded company on Tuesday.

It was followed by SM Prime Holdings Inc., up 0.29 percent to P34.60, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., flat at P55, International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 3.03 percent to P204, and MREIT Inc., up 0.87 percent to P18.48 per share.

Rounding out the list of active stocks were Monde Nissin Corp., down 1.39 percent to P15.60, and GT Capital, down 2.44 percent to P560. INQ