Market rebounds after tumultuous week

The local stock barometer on Friday rebounded after a tumultuous week as bets on central banks’ stimulus perked up regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index recouped 123.77 points or 2.03 percent to close at 6,208.05.  This narrowed the PSEi’s weekly losses to 241.45 points or 3.7 percent.

The index has languished in “bear” territory for the second straight week, having fallen by more than 20 percent from the peak levels seen in April 2015.

All counters were up Friday, although the rebound was led by the interest rate-sensitive property counter which advanced by 3.16 percent.

The services counter rose by 2.47 percent while the financial, industrial and holding firms all gained over 1 percent.

Stock markets across the globe were buoyed by speculation that central banks would use greater monetary stimulus amid a recent string of gloomy data.

Foreign investors, however, continued to pare down their holdings of local equities.  There was P660 million in net foreign selling for the day, which suggested that local investors made up for the slack in foreign interest.

Value turnover hit P6.17 billion. There were 104 advancers and 60 decliners, while 40 stocks were unchanged.

Megaworld, ALI and JG Summit led the PSEi rebound, all rising by more than 5 percent.  AGI rose by over 3.94 percent.

URC, SM Prime, PLDT and BDO were all up by more than 2 percent while Jollibee, MPI and Globe rose by over 1 percent. Metrobank was also slightly higher. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla