PSEi marks record close

The local stock barometer closed above the 5,000 mark for the first time on Friday, powered by a strong surge in funds seeking better yields in a low interest rate environment.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index surged by 77.69 points or 1.57 percent to a new all-time high of 5,016.30.  The index closed at the day’s peak.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said local stocks benefited from strong momentum and a fresh 25-basis point cut in the key interest rates of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at Campos Lanuza & Co., agreed that stocks were being driven by additional liquidity that would be released by the BSP’s rate reduction.

“The market’s rise is based on the liquidity boost and not on reasonable fundamentals,” Lacson said.

All counters rose, but the day’s upswing was led by the holding firm and property indices which both jumped by over 2 percent.

Value turnover amounted to P7.11 billion.  There were 96 advancers that edged out 66 decliners while 38 stocks were unchanged.

AGI, PLDT, Metro Pacific Investments, Aboitiz Power, Ayala Corp., Metrobank, SM Investments, URC, Ayala Land, BPI, BDO and San Miguel Corp. led the index higher.

Other notable gainers were Dizon Mining, RCBC, Security Bank and NiHao.

On the other hand, DMCI and Megaworld bucked the uptrend.  Union Bank and Petron also closed in negative territory. Doris C. Dumlao