Index breezes through another record high close

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) breezed through its 23rd record close of the year as it positioned itself less than a hundred points shy of the 8,000 mark yesterday.

With one more trading session left before heading to the Holy Week break, the PSEi climbed 0.52 percent or 41.08 points to surge to its fifth consecutive winning streak at 7,940.49.

After touching 8,000 mark on Monday, the index retested the level yesterday but failed to surpass the mark this time around.

“The market continued to take its cue from the US after personal income and outlays rose 0.4 percent in February versus plus 0.3 percent estimates,” said Jason T. Escartin, investment analyst at F Yap Securities.

Aside from the rise in US stocks, Alex Tiu said yesterday’s rise was also due to window dressing and overall rise in US stocks,” AB Capital Securities Inc. analyst Alex Tiu added.

Asian stocks were generally higher as it took its cue from an overnight Wall Street rally.

The Dow and S&P 500 added more than one percent each. 

Local counters were mixed at three apiece. Leading those in the green were property firms which climbed 1.60 percent or 50.28 points while mining and oil firms captained those in the red after losing 1.51 percent or 237 points.

Tiu said the mining counter was pushed down by lower nickel prices.

Market breadth was negative as decliners crushed advancers, 109 to 80, while 34 stocks were unchanged. Value turnover further thinned to P12.49 billion.