Investors hunting for cheap stocks buoyed the local bourse on Wednesday, allowing the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) to break its three-day losing streak.
The benchmark PSEi climbed by 1.58 percent, or 101.93 points, to close at 6,535.17 while the broader All-Shares index rose by 1.22 percent, or 43 points, to settle at 3,563.94.
Philstocks Financial Inc. researcher Mikhail Plopenio said that bargain-hunting provided PSEi some relief after the main index fell by 2.58 percent to 6,434.73 earlier this week, which was its second-worst closing since its 2.93-percent decline on Jun. 21.
“Also, the strengthening of the local currency against the US dollar boosted sentiment,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Philippine peso strengthened to P57.515 against the greenback from the previous closing of P57.81.
All the subsectors ended in the green. Property and services indices booked most gains with 3.25-percent uptick and 1.91 percent increase, respectively.Over 543.36 million shares valued at P4.91 billion were traded. Winners led losers, 98-81, while 54 issues were unchanged.The shares of Philippine Seven Corp. were the most actively traded, rising by 4.54 percent to P72.50 each.
This was followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 1.15 percent to P352; BDO Unibank Inc., down 1.36 percent to P138.10; Universal Robina Corp., up 0.82 percent to P98.90; Ayala Land Inc., up 5.08 percent to P30; and Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 2.04 percent to P119.80.
Other active names were Globe Telecom Inc., up 2.39 percent to P2,230; Ayala Corp., up 1.78 percent to P599; PLDT Inc., up 3.89 percent to P1,550; and SM Investments Corp., up 1.14 percent to P890.