Property issues lift main stock price index

The local stock barometer closed a tad higher yesterday on selective buying of large-cap stocks.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 0.45 points or 0.006 percent to close at 7,588.98.

Outside of the PSEi, one notable gainer was RCBC, which surged 11.64 percent on speculation that the bank might be put on the auction block following the death of its founder, Alfonso Yuchengco.

“The public perception is that it won’t be for sale while he is alive,” one stock dealer said.

The PSEi was led higher by the holding firm and property counters while the financial, industrial, services and mining/oil counters slipped.

Value turnover for the day was thin at P5.05 billion.

Market breadth was negative, with 104 decliners edging out 87 advancers while 49 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by AGI, which rose by 3.55 percent and was the most actively traded stock. ALI and Megaworld also rose by more than 1 percent.

PLDT and Puregold also contributed modest gains.

Meanwhile, DMCI fell by 3.28 percent while Metrobank and GTCAP both slipped by over 1 percent following an announcement that GTCAP would hike its interest in Metrobank.

BDO, AEV, Jollibee, Cemex and URC also slipped.

“Philippine stocks traded flat, failing to match their US counterparts, which broke a three-day losing streak ahead of US corporate earnings data this week, due to mounting tension between North Korea and the US macroeconomic data was also not supportive,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

Meanwhile, Limlingan said the market also digested the implication of the speech given by US Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer, who said he was not expecting a replay of the so-called “taper tantrum” of 2013 when the central bank pared down its big balance sheet.