Peso grit fires up bulls in PH equity market

The Philippine stock market rally gained momentum on Thursday after the benchmark index breached the 6,200 level on rising trading activity.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed up 1.78 percent, or 109.05 points, to 6,230.58 while the broader All Shares index added 1.21 percent, or 39.11 points, to 3,282.38.

Volume moved up as nearly 630 million shares valued at P5.64 billion changed hands. Most stocks also climbed during the session, indicating that bulls were in control. Foreigners were net buyers to the tune of P195.7 million, stock exchange data showed.

The strong stock market performance came as the peso showed renewed signs of strength amid pronouncements by the government to defend the local currency against the surging greenback.

The peso gained 0.36 percent against the dollar to close at P58.22 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the property index dropped 0.74 percent while other PSE subsectors gained, led by holding firms, up 2.46 percent; industrial, 2.22 percent; services, 1.98 percent; financials, 1.78 percent; mining and oil, 0.06 percent.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. was the top traded stock as it rose 3.38 percent to P177.50 per share.

It was followed by SM Investments Corp., up 3.81 percent to P830; Ayala Land Inc., down 0.75 percent to P26.40; BDO Unibank Inc., up 2.58 percent to P127; and SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 0.92 percent to P32.45 per share.

PLDT Inc. was up 2.08 percent to P1,618; Ayala Corp., up 3.08 percent to P670; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 1.13 percent to P94.30; Universal Robina Corp., up 5.08 percent to P122 and Security Bank Corp., up 5.75 percent to P86.50 per share.

Overall, there were 123 advancers against 55 losers while 44 companies closed unchanged, data from the stock exchange showed.