PSEi breaches 4,500 mark

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index breached a key psychological barrier at 4,500 and set a new high Wednesday as investors anticipated robust second-quarter local corporate results and cheered surging gold prices and the upbeat Wall Street trading.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 21.39 points, or 0.48 percent, to finish at 4,507.04, setting a new peak for the fourth consecutive session.

The PSEi has advanced 305.9 points, or 7.28 percent, so far this year, in line with expectations of a third year of upswing.

“The stock market’s resilience has echoed the positive sentiment in Asian and US shares. We continue to be optimistic that positive economic fundamentals and favorable corporate earnings toward the end of the year will further boost market confidence,” PSE president and chief executive Hans Sicat said.

Enrico Claudio, a market strategist at investment house Pentacapital, said foreign investors were buying into the local market expecting the second-quarter income season to produce positive surprises.

He noted that the market had pulled back during the March-April period due to disappointing first-quarter results. But investors were now betting favorably ahead of the second quarter reporting season, Claudio said.

The strategist said that based on fundamentals, the market could still have some gas to test 4,675 this year.

Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average posted its biggest single-day jump for the year, rising 202.26 points, or 1.6 percent, on the back of strong second quarter US corporate earnings and a bipartisan plan to lift the US borrowing limit.

Record gold prices also continued to boost mining stocks. The mining/oil counter rallied another 2.5 percent for the day. Only the property counter ended in the red.

Value turnover amounted to P6.74 billion. There were 99 advancers as against 58 decliners while 36 stocks were unchanged.

Foreign investors were still in a net foreign buying position by P116 million.

The index was led higher by Lepanto “A” (reserved for local investors) and “B” (open to both local and foreign investors), BDO, EDC, ICTSI, Metro Pacific Investments, AGI, Megaworld and SM Investments.

Mining stocks Manila Mining, Atlas and Semirara also gained in active trade.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s gains were tempered by some profit-taking on Metrobank, Philex and BPI. San Miguel Corp. and East Asia Power also pulled back. Shares of URC and PLDT were unchanged.