Philippine stocks gain ahead of good GDP growth projection

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stocks gained for the second consecutive session on Wednesday ahead of the release of the country’s second-quarter economic report card.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 20.1 points, or 0.39 percent, to close at 5,195.72. Month-end window-dressing activities also helped prop up the market for the second session.

The National Statistics Coordination Board and the National Economic and Development Authority are expected to release the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product performance on Thursday. Dealers said the market was expecting good numbers.

Value turnover stood at P4.22 billion. There were 95 advancers versus 65 decliners while 31 stocks were unchanged.

All counters ended higher for the day with the exception of the mining/oil counter.

The outperformers within the index were Globe (+3.42 percent), RLC (+1.93 percent), Meralco (+1.63 percent), Metrobank (+1.39 percent) and AGI (+1.19 percent). Other stocks that led the PSEi higher were SM Prime, SMIC, Meralco, BDO, BPI, Cebu Air, JFC and Megaworld.

The non-PSEi stocks that gained in heavy volume were ABS PDRs (+2.36 percent), Security Bank (+1.65 percent) and Puregold (+0.34 percent).

On the other hand, the PSEi’s gains were tempered by the decline of AC (-0.42 percent), DMCI (-0.17 percent) and URC (-0.33 percent).

Across the region, sentiment was mixed ahead of US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s much-awaited address before central bankers gathering in Jackson Hole on Friday.