Upgraded growth goal lifts Philippine shares

Philippine shares rebounded on Wednesday as telecommunications and internet stocks outperformed while foreign investors continued to pile into the market.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed the session higher by 1.15 percent, or 80.82 points, to 7,094.86 while the broader All Shares index added 0.95 percent, or 34.59 points, to 3,692.51.

A total of 991.91 million shares valued at almost P8 billion changed hands while foreigners were net buyers amounting to P532.2 million, stock exchange data showed.

Services took the lead among PSE subsectors with a 3.36 jump thanks to PLDT Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions Inc.

Industrial stocks gained 1.49 percent, followed by mining and oil (+0.78 percent); financials (+0.6 percent); property (+0.54 percent); and holding firms (+0.33 percent).

Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office raised its 2022 Philippine growth forecast to 7.3 percent from 6.9 percent whole cutting the 2023 outlook to 6.2 percent from 6.3 percent previously.

This was lower than the 6.5 percent growth target of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who was part of the Filipino delegation attending the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

BDO Unibank Inc. was the top traded company as it slipped 0.72 percent to P123.60 per share.