PH stock market gets out of 5-day slump

MANILA, Philippines – Local stock prices crept higher on Friday, ending a five-day slump, as SM Prime Holdings and Robinsons Land boosted the property counter.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index firmed up by 9.33 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 5,214.52. This developed as regional markets firmed up amid reports that China’s second quarter economic growth met market expectations.

The property counter surged by 1.39 percent led by SM Prime (+3.88 percent) and RLC (+3.76 percent).

SM Prime rose after its president, Hans Sy, said that the SM group’s offer on a prospective buy-in transaction with the Ortigas family was still on the table.

RLC, on the other hand, sizzled on news that it was in talks to take part in the $2-billion gaming/entertainment hub planned by Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada.

Turnover swelled to P11.34 billion due to a P6.5-billion block sale on Puregold and P1 billion block sale on Philweb.

Puregold’s controlling shareholder Lucio Co placed out shares in a recent overnight equity deal while Philweb bought shares held by ePLDT.

Advancers outnumbered decliners in the market 87-63 while 40 stocks were unchanged.

Other index stocks that contributed to the day’s gains were PLDT, Megaworld, AGI, MPI, BDO, Globe, URC and First Gen.  Also among the gainers were GT Capital, Abacus and Security Bank.

On the other hand, the stocks that bucked the day’s upswing were ALI, Puregold, SMIC, AC, BPI and SMC.