PSEi cheers ECB stimuli

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up above the 7,000 on Friday, settling at a four-month high, as fresh monetary stimuli in the euro-zone perked up regional markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 50.56 points or 0.72 percent to close at 7,098.64, rising for the fourth session in the row. It tested the 7,100 mark in intra-day trade.

This marked the highest level reached by the main index since November 6, 2015 when it closed at 7,118.20.

Elsewhere in the region, stock markets jumped as the European Central Bank (ECB) announced fresh interest rate cuts, more bond buying operations and potential liquidity injection to lenders.

At the local market, all counters were up but the biggest gainers were the financial and mining/oil counters which both surged by over 2 percent. The services counter was up by 1.53 percent.

Value turnover at the local market was relatively high at P9.18 billion.

There were 113 advancers that edged out 61 decliners while 42 stocks were unchanged.

ICTSI, Metrobank and FGEN all gained over 3 percent while BDO, GTCAP and MPI all rose by over 2 percent.

ALI, JG Summit and Megaworld all advanced by over 1 percent. AC, PLDT, URC and AP all firmed up.

Outside of the PSEi, gaming firm Melco Crown surged by 9.8 percent. Puregold rose by 2.78 percent while RRHI gained 1.45 percent.

Sy family-led SM Prime and SMIC bucked the day’s upswing, both declining by over 1 percent.