Index snaps 2-day selldown, goes up on late buying

MANILA, Philippines — The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went back into the green zone yesterday after a two-day selldown, although it still fell short of reaching the 8,000 mark.

The PSEi finished at 7,922.04, up 13.05 points or 0.16 percent while the broader All Shares gauge gained 2.78 points or 0.05 percent to end at 4,845.50.

The sectors, however,  were a mixed bag – positive for the holding firms, industrial and services gauges and negative for the property, financials and mining and oil.

Total value turnover, meanwhile, reached P7.964 billion.Market breadth was negative with decliners slightly outnumbering gainers, 100 to 96, while 54 issues were unchanged.

Traders said it was a relatively slow day although last-minute buying propped up the market.

“Last-minute buyers pushed the PSEi to close at 7,922.04 or 13.05 points up. Value turnover was at P7.9 billion.  Sector performance were mixed with the holdings having the largest gain of 0.75 percent to 7,551.10, while properties lost the most to 4,262.56,” online portal Philstocks said.

Traders said the market is generally waiting for the policy moves of the US Federal Reserve and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), with the latter scheduled to meet tomorrow.

Moving forward, traders said the index could still continue to consolidate until there’s word from the two central banks on what their decisions would be. Until then, support remains around 7,830, said Gabriel Perez of Papa Securities.

London-based Capital Economics said the BSP may slash policy rates in its meeting on June 20.

Headline inflation rose at a faster pace of 3.2 percent in May from three percent in April, bringing the year-to-date average to 3.6 percent but still well within the government’s full year inflation target of two to four percent.