Cautious trading yields modest PSEi gains

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) saw modest gains as investors made cautious bets ahead of the release of US inflation data on Thursday.

The PSEi briefly traded above 5,900 before closing at 5,895.64, up 0.72 percent or 42.01 points, while the broader All Shares index added 0.29 percent, or 9.17 points, to 3,164.75.

US inflation in September likely heated up to 8.1 percent from the previous year but lower than the 8.3 percent recorded in the previous month of August, according to a forecast from Reuters. Investors were also hoping a bigger consumer price jump might convince the influential US Federal Reserve to slow its pace of aggressive interest rate hikes which, in turn, would provide relief to stocks and other assets.

Many domestic investors remained on the sidelines, however, with 458.53 million shares valued at P3.65 billion changing hands. Foreigners were net sellers amounting to about P30 million, data from the stock exchange showed.

Philippine stock exchange subsectors were mostly higher, save for mining and oil, which slipped 0.58 percent after oil prices slid for a third-straight session. Services increased 0.97 percent, followed by holding firms, up 0.84 percent; financials, up 0.62 percent; property, up 0.35 percent and industrial, up 0.33 percent.

Ayala Land Inc. was the most actively traded company as it rose 0.44 percent to P22.80 per share.

It was followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 1.71 percent to P178; BDO Unibank Inc., up 1.72 percent to P118; Converge ICT Solutions Inc., up 0.32 percent to P12.52; and Universal Robina Corp., down 1.01 percent to P108.10 per share.

PLDT Inc. was up 1.27 percent to P1,438; Ayala Corp., down 2.13 percent to P597; Jollibee Foods Corp., down 0.6 percent to P231.60; SM Prime Holdings Inc., up 0.64 percent to P31.40; and SM Investments Corp., up 3.21 percent to P788.50 per share.

Overall, there were 101 losers against 71 advancers while 41 companies closed unchanged.