PSEi sets best finish in 9 months as investors seem to regain confidence
The local stock barometer returned to the 7,000 level on Wednesday, marking its best finish in nine months, as investors took heart from a string of favorable news about coronavirus vaccine development.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up 92.64 points, or 1.33 percent, to close at 7,051.78, revisiting levels before the coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdowns that resulted in an economic recession this year. This suggested that investors were starting to gain confidence that the pandemic may end soon.
This marked the PSEi’s highest finish since Feb. 24, when it ended at 7,187.44.
“It’s a recovery story,” said Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc. who, however, noted that foreign investors were net sellers for the day.
Domestic investors took up the slack as P375.18 million worth of foreign funds flowed out of the market.
Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said more vaccine headlines—referring to recent announcements by Pfizer and Moderna about their respective vaccine development—should buoy global optimism as well as the PSEi. However, it said recent gains could be capped as the market would digest the impact of recent typhoons that ravaged parts of the country.
Initial resistance for the market is seen at 7,200 while support is likely at the 6,700 area, the brokerage said.
The market was shored up by the financial and holding firm counters, which both surged by over 1.9 percent.
The industrial, services and property counters all gained less than 1 percent.
On the other hand, the mining/oil counter declined by 1.09 percent.
Value turnover for the day stood at P10.93 billion.
There were 126 advancers that beat 86 decliners, while 55 stocks were unchanged.
Investors picked up shares of BDO, BPI, SM Investments, Ayala Corp., Metrobank and Megaworld, which all rose by over 2 percent.
Ayala Land and Metro Pacific added over 1 percent, while SM Prime, ICTSI, Puregold and PLDT rose by less than 1 percent.
Outside the PSEi, investors loaded up on shares of MerryMart and AC Energy, which surged by 9.57 percent and 8.35 percent, respectively.
