PSEi firms up

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up slightly on Monday on bets that the US Federal Reserve is in no rush to hike interest rates anew.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index added 9.4 points or 0.13 percent to close at 7,254.53. Across regional markets, stock markets traded with mixed sentiment.

At the local market, the financial sector led the day’s gains, rising by 1.1 percent. The industrial, holding firm and property firms all slightly advanced.

On the other hand, the mining/oil and services counters declined.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.17 billion. There were 110 advancers that edged out 83 decliners while 54 stocks were unchanged.

There was P131 million in net foreign selling at the local market.

GTCAP and Metrobank led the day’s rise, both rising by over 1 percent while URC and SMIC also firmed up.

Among the day’s notable gainers were non-PSEi stocks such as Now (+33.3 percent), RCBC (+7.26 percent) and Security Bank (+3.08 percent).

Now has been rising in the last few days on news that it’s raising fresh funds to invest in the corporate broadband market.

RCBC, which is at the center of an $81-million money laundering scandal, has denied it’s for sale or that it’s in talks with either Bank of the Philippine Islands or Banco de Oro. Both banks also denied any move to buy the bank from the Yuchengco group.

In the case of Security Bank, Japan’s largest banking group Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. completed on Friday a P36.9-billion fresh capital infusion in exchange for a 20 percent stake in this local bank, sealing what is seen as a “game-changing” partnership that will alter the local banking landscape.

On the other hand, Petron fell by 4.83 percent on profit-taking while PLDT and Megaworld both declined by over 1 percent. BDO, Jollibee, Globe, AC and MPI all slipped.