PSEi resumes climb

The local stock barometer resumed its upswing and posted a new high Friday as the slump in global oil prices is making the Philippines more attractive as a destination for portfolio investments.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 42.29 points or 0.54 percent to close at 7,861.33. Across the region, trading was mostly buoyant due to an improved outlook on the European Union presented by the chief of the European Central Bank.

Locally, liquidity is keeping most stocks at high valuations. “There are many foreign funds who want to have stocks from the Philippine market. The country (being a net oil importer) is a beneficiary of the fall in global oil prices so they are expecting better growth this year,” said Manny Cruz, chief strategist at local stockbrokerage Asiasec Equities.

He said an ongoing investors’ forum organized by investment bank UBS was seen bringing more foreign flows through next week.

The day’s gains were led by the industrial counter, which rose 1.03 percent, while the financial, holding firm and property counters posted modest gains. The services and mining/oil counters faltered slightly.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.54 billion. Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative as there were more decliners (91) than advancers (86) while 49 stocks were unchanged.

Selective buying of large caps supported the PSEi’s rise. One notable gainer was Metrobank, which rose 2.5 percent, while URC and GT Capital both gained more than 1 percent. AC, BPI, ALI and Jollibee also contributed gains.

Outside of the PSEi, Lopez-led FPH (+4.39 percent) and Lopez Holdings (+2.23 percent) were among the notable gainers.

Cruz said the market was anticipating ABS-CBN to benefit from a surge in election spending ahead of the 2016 elections but were buying into Lopez Holdings—whose valuation is lower—to get into such election spending play. Doris C. Dumlao