PSEi hits 9-month high as 7,000 barrier breached

Bullish sentiments on Monday pushed up the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) past the 7,000 mark to end at its highest level in nine months.

The PSEi jumped 1.35 percent, or 93.94 points, to 7,045.48 after entering a bull market on Friday.

The broader All Shares index also rose 1.03 percent, or 37.53 points, to 3,675.15.

PSE data showed heavy buying, with 1.1 billion shares valued at P10.23 billion changing hands. Foreigners were also net buyers of an amount totaling P1.1 billion.

“You have expectations of inflation heading back to the [government target of 2-4 percent] by the end of the year. You also have policy rate hikes leveling off and also lower pressure on the [Philippine] peso, which could bode well for foreign fund flows,” China Bank Securities director for research Rastine Mercado said in an interview with ANC on Monday.

“We also see the China reopening story as a potential upside catalyst for fund flows in Asia,” he added.

New data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also showed robust growth in remittances from overseas Filipinos as the figure expanded by 5.8 percent to $2.9 billion in November.

PSE subsectors were mostly higher, with financials rising 2.8 percent, followed by holding firms (+2.43 percent), property (+0.37 percent), and industrial (+0.32 percent).

Mining and oil and services dropped 0.69 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

BDO Unibank Inc. was the top traded stock as it added 5.46 percent to P125.50 per share.

It was followed by SM Investments Corp., up 4.3 percent to P947; International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 0.96 percent; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 2.18 percent to P112.40; and Ayala Land Inc., up 1.94 percent to P31.60.

GT Capital Holdings Inc. was up 3.66 percent to P481; Ayala Corp., up 3.92 percent to P768; Jollibee Foods Corp., up 1.22 percent to P248; SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 0.53 percent to P37.75; and Aboitiz Power Corp., up 3.42 percent to P39.30 per share.

Overall, there were 138 advancers against 65 losers while 46 companies closed unchanged, stock exchange data showed.