Blue chips bounce back on bullish data

MANILA — Philippine stocks saw a sharp rebound on Friday as the benchmark index rallied over 100 points following gains by large cap banks and property stocks.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 1.53 percent, or 104.87 points, to 6,942.21 while the broader All Shares index grew 0.98 percent, or 34.92 points, to 3,602.81.

Luis Gerardo Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development, said market sentiments were positive as investors anticipated US jobs data.

READ: Asia shares strike seven-month high ahead of US jobs data

Limlingan added that investors were monitoring the local release of corporate earnings after digesting the recent uptick in February inflation.

Top gainers

A total of 548.74 million shares valued at P4.89 billion changed hands while foreigners were net buyers to the tune of P563.62 million, data from the stock exchange showed.

Subsectors were mostly positive, with gainers led by property (+1.8 percent), services (+1.77 percent) and holding firms (+1.24 percent). Mining and oil slumped 0.76 percent.

SM Investments Corp. was the top traded stock as it rose 1.98 percent to P979.50 per share.

It was followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 3.27 percent to P309.80; BDO Unibank Inc., up 2.61 percent to P157; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 0.94 percent to P118.10; and SM Prime Holdings Inc., up 2.82 percent to P32.80 per share.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. was up 1.84 percent to P60.80; Ayala Land Inc., up 1.22 percent to P33.20; Ayala Corp., up 1.26 percent to P683.50; Universal Robina Corp., down 0.71 percent to P111.60; and Jollibee Foods Corp., up 3.13 percent to P264 per share.

Overall, there were 107 advancers against 87 losers while 44 companies closed unchanged, data from the stock exchange showed. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS