PH stocks firm up at 7,900; investors stay on sidelines

The local stock barometer firmed up at the 7,900 mark on Tuesday but most investors still chose to stay on the sidelines.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 31.2 points or 0.4 percent to close at 7,912.14 on selected buying of large-cap stocks. However, foreigners were still in a net selling position amounting to P1.03 billion.

This bounce was “minor” relative to the market’s awful performance on Monday, noted Christopher Mangun, head of research at AAA Equities.

He noted that overnight, US equities had likewise inched up while Asian equities markets had mixed results as investors anxiously awaited for more details on the resolution of a “phase-one” deal between Washington and Beijing.

“Even with the minor bounce that we saw today, we are not out of the woods yet. The general investor sentiment remains extremely cautious and no one is willing to get in until we see either a decrease in selling pressure or a pick-up in buying. In the meantime, the market will remain in limbo until investors start to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Mangun said.

All counters ended higher. Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.22 billion.

Despite the PSEi’s gain, market breadth was negative.

There were 100 decliners that edged out 88 advancers while 50 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led higher by conglomerate LTG, which rose by 6.7 percent.

DMCI, BDO, Jollibee and GT Capital all added over 1 percent.

Ayala Land, SM Investments, Ayala Corp., Metrobank, Globe Telecom, URC and PLDT also edged higher.

On the other hand, BPI and First Gen lost over 1 percent while SM Prime and ICTSI also slipped.