PSEi hits new high for 2016

THE LOCAL stock barometer set a new peak for this year above 8,000 level on Wednesday ahead of the corporate earnings reporting season.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 15.96 points or 0.2 percent to close at 8,051.87 as most regional markets rebounded in intra-day trade on stimulus bets.

At the local market, the gains were led by the financial, industrial, holding firms and property counters – which made up for the slack in the services and mining/oil counters.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.81 billion. There were 113 advancers that beat 84 decliners while 54 stocks were unchanged.

Investors picked up shares of SM Investments, BPI, GTCAP, AC, Jollibee, LTG and BDO.

The notable gainers were non-PSEi stocks, such as Alterra, which surged by 18.65 percent on backdoor-listing rumors while Puregold and Security Bank both gained over 3 percent.

On the other hand, telecom stocks PLDT and Globe both declined by over 1 percent.

SM Prime, JG Summit and MPI also slipped.

Non-PSEi stocks Cemex and Cirtek also succumbed to profit-taking.

Investment house First Metro Investment Corp. said that going into the second half of the year, its preferred sector – consumer staples – had done very well in terms of price appreciation.

“For now, adverse impact of the Brexit (British exit from the European Union) in the local equities market was short-lived. However, we think the full impact of Brexit will be felt over time and will
not be short of uncertainties, i.e., currency fluctuations,” FMIC said in a research note issued on Wednesday.

“Having said this, uncertainties over Brexit will cause the Fed (US Federal Reserve) and other central banks to be dovish – resulting in yields on risk-free assets remaining low longer. Hence, we
believe high yield assets/stocks should do well under this backdrop,” the investment house said.

FMIC noted that second quarter earnings reporting would kick off late this month but added that third quarter results would be more relevant as investors will gauge post-election corporate performance.

“Lower volume could be a theme in July and August as summer in the western world comes into full swing and ghost month kicks in,” FMIC said.