Property stocks, bargain hunting lift share prices

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices rose yesterday, slightly recovering after days of being stuck in negative territory, propped up by property issues.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange  index or PSEi finished at 5,864.23, up 22.63 points or 0.38 percent.

Likewise, the broader All Shares gauge climbed to 3,528.85, up 7.75 points or 0.22 percent.

Most of the sectors rebounded except for the financial and industrial indexes which finished 0.72 percent and 0.46 percent lower, respectively.

All the other gauges moved forward, with the property index rallying by 1.58 percent.

Total value turnover reached P5.477 billion. Market breadth was negative, 98 to 91, while 49 issues were unchanged.

“The PSEi saw a slight rebound, led by gains in large-cap property stocks,” said Chris Mangun of AAA Southeast Equities.

SM Prime Holdings gained a substantial 3.16 percent and Ayala Land Inc., which had just successfully listed P6.25 billion fixed rate bonds due 2025 at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx),went up by 0.85 percent.

“This may be considered bargain hunting as these issues have been battered heavily in the last few weeks. The general sentiment remains cautious, but will improve if economic activity continues to pick up and new coronavirus cases continue to decline. Investors are also watching out for the effects of the recently passed economic stimulus package. The market will continue sideways until investors see more concrete signs of the economic rebound,” Mangun said.