PSEi gains 1.75%

Stocks closed with a strong finish Tuesday as investors reacted positively to President Aquino’s State-of-the-Nation address for the first time and on dampened fears that monetary stimulus efforts by the US Federal Reserve would soon end.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index ended up 1.75 percent, or 115.85 points, to close at 6,743.21. The broader all-shares index jumped 1.66 percent, or 67.04 points, to 4,006.48.

“We think this was a positive reaction to the Sona,” AB Capital Securities Inc. analyst Gregg Ilag said in an interview. He said investors were also less jittery given statements that the US Federal Reserve has not decided when its stimulus program would end.

All sub-indices on Tuesday ended in the green, led by services and holding firms, which gained 2.24 percent and 2.15 percent, respectively.

Ilag noted that near-term movements could be positive as investors look to position ahead of the release of second-quarter corporate earnings. He said the midterm elections last May likely propped up the performance of consumer, media and power companies.

For the rest of the week, Ilag said the PSEi could retest 6,900, based on technical indicators.

Trading volume hit 1.37 shares valued at P8.72 billion. Gains were broad-based, with 114 firms ending higher against 46 decliners and 39 companies closing unchanged.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. led the list of most active stocks. It gained 2.79 percent to P3,100. This was followed by Ayala Land Inc. (+1.15 percent), Ayala Corp. (+1.78 percent), Security Bank Corp. (-2.59 percent ) and Manila Electric Co. (+3.41 percent ).—Miguel R. Camus