PH stocks up on US-China trade talks

Philippine stocks rebounded on Friday alongside regional equities as investors latched on to optimistic news that trade talks between the United States and China were making progress.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 0.62 percent or 47.8 points to 7,798.28 while the broader all-shares index was up 0.59 percent to 4,813.03.

Subsectors all ended in positive territory yesterday, with property up by 1.72 percent.

It was followed by mining and oil, up 0.69 percent, and financials, up 0.59 percent.

A total of 1.37 billion shares valued at P20.79 billion changed hands yesterday. Gainers outnumbered losers 103 to 88 while 41 companies closed unchanged.

JG Summit Holdings was the most actively traded on Friday as it lost 1.05 percent to P61.05 per share.

It was followed by San Miguel Corp., up 1.28 percent to P174.20; San Miguel Food and Beverage, up 2.31 percent to P106.50; SM Investments Corp., up 0.97 percent to P934 and International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 0.5 percent to P119.50.

Other actively traded stocks were SM Prime Holdings, up 3.5 percent to P38.40; Wilcon Depot Inc., up 0.26 percent to P15.44; Petron Corp., down 3.26 percent to P6.52; BDO Unibank Inc., unchanged at P132 and Ayala Land Inc., up 0.7 percent to P43.10 per share.