Index rebounds on bargain hunting

MANILA, Philippines - Local share prices rebounded yesterday after three straight sessions of decline, boosted largely by bargain hunters looking for attractive stocks.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rebounded to the 7,100 territory as it gained 0.22 percent or 15.71 points to  settle at 7,113.22.

Investors turned to bargain hunting to pick up stocks made cheaper since last week’s market decline.

“Technical relief rallies were felt yesterday, as bargain hunters took opportunities to reposition following the latest set-back,” said Freya Natividad, analyst at 2TradeAsia.com.

The recovery of Asian markets lent optimism to the local bourse. For instance, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2 percent or 169.33 points to 14,311.98 as Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank assured their commitment to continue their stimulus programs.

US markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday.

Locally, most counters were in the green, driven by mining and oil that rallied 4.09 percent or 671.05 points to 17,068.69. The mining sector was propelled by a surprise jump in Lepanto Consolidated Mining’s class A (up 16.07 percent) and B shares (up 17.24 percent).

The service sector bucked the trend, dropping 0.22 percent or 4.63 points to 2,094.34.

Most active shares were in the green, paced by index heavyweights SM Investments Corp. (up 0.17 percent), Ayala Corp. (up 1.38 percent) and PLDT (up 0.19 percent).

Top-traded Alliance Global Group Inc. (-1.57 percent) led the losers, while First Gen Corp. sank 7.85 percent following a fire incident that cut the output of the 500-megawatt San Lorenzo natural gas plant in Batangas.

The value of shares traded picked up to P9.46 billion from P9.05 billion on Monday. Advancers outplayed decliners, 91 to 67, while 46 stocks did not change.