PSE mounts late rally, finishes up

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange avoided what would probably be its longest losing streak of the year, mounting a late rally to finish in the green along with its regional counterparts.

The PSE index improved 0.56 percent or 43.35 points to settle at 7,733.92.

“The momentum of the two day decline last week spilled over at the start and through most of the first session of this week after US stocks slipped Friday,” said Justino Calaycay Jr. analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

“Fortunes changed into the final hour of the session as the bulls returned to the table eking out gains and snapping the two-day slide,” Calaycay said.

Analysts in general said the local market took its cue from the rise seen in most Asian stocks following China’s interest rate cut.

The People’s Bank of China’s over the weekend decided to cut both benchmark lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points, pushing Asian markets higher with Japan’s Nikkei picking up 0.3 percent.

The positive news from China offset downbeat US stocks when it closed last Friday.

All local counters except for the services firms finished in the positive territory led by mining and oil and property companies.

Mining and oil firms gained 1.39 percent while property companies climbed 1.23 percent. Services firms, meanwhile, dropped 0.38 percent.

Market breadth turned positive as advancers put a stop to decliners’ dominance over the past few sessions, 98 to 67, while 56 stocks did not change.

Value turnover stood at P8.25 billion with 1 billion stocks changing hands.