PSEi surges close to 6,700 points

THE local shares index breached the 6,700-point territory on Wednesday amid the rally of US equities and better income results of corporations in the first three months of the year.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) jumped 2.02 percent, or 132.94 points, to another day high of 6,727.60, while the wider All Shares increased by 1.6 percent, or 56.41 points, to finish at 3,590.06.

Japhet Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said the climb of Wall Street overnight provided a boost for the market, along with the appreciation of the first-quarter earnings results of corporations.

The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted gains of 1.34 percent, 2.02 percent and 2.76 percent, respectively, overnight.

Tantiangco added that the market's rally was backed by the entry of foreign funds, which snapped the preceding seven-day net selling streak.

Net inflows amounted to P270.89 million on Wednesday.

For his part, Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said investors bought ahead of the policy meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and as investors "digested the retail numbers that came in line with consensus expectations" abroad.

Trading remained active as net value turnover stood at P7.4 billion, which is higher than the year-to-date average of P6.73 billion.

The miners led the local sectors after adding 2.72 percent, while the properties were the sole losers at 0.6 percent.

Total volume turnover was at 1.6 billion shares valued at P7.75 billion.

Winners outnumbered decliners at 134 to 60 while 45 securities were unchanged.

Source: TheManila Times