Main stock price barometer rises for 6th straight session

The local stock barometer continued its winning streak for the sixth straight session Tuesday, firming up above the 7,300 mark despite an overnight downturn in Wall Street.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 88 points or 1.21 percent to close at 7,364.34 as risk appetite held up across the region despite renewed jitters in the West.

“Risk sentiment took a hit last night with investors getting anxious about the future of the single EU market. Weakening of commodity prices did not help the broad sentiment either,” Citigroup said in a research note.

At the local market, positioning for the year ahead continued to dominate given good prospects for the economy this year.

All counters edged higher, led by the services counter, which rose by 2.12 percent. The industrial, mining/oil and property counters all advanced by more than 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.95 billion. For the eighth straight session, there was net foreign buying at the stock market amounting to P180 million.

There were 129 advancers against 74 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s gains were led by Megaworld, which advanced by 4.53 percent, while PLDT and Metrobank gained more than 3 percent.

SM Prime, Globe Telecom, Metro Pacific Investments and JG Summit all rose by over 2 percent. Semirara, Ayala Corp., Ayala Land and Jollibee were all up by more than 1 percent while URC and Aboitiz Equity also contributed modest gains.

On the other hand, BDO, GT Capital and Security Bank slipped.