Share prices soar on buying frenzy

MANILA, Philippines — The bulls held up, leaving the Philippine stock market in a buying frenzy yesterday.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Composite index (PSEi) recovered by a strong 126.37 points, or 2.04 percent, to settle at 6,309.99.

The broader All Shares index was not to be left behind, closing strong as well with a 50.24-point increase, or 1.50 percent, to finish at 3,398.70.

Regina Capital said there’s optimism as inflation was within expectations.

“Local inflation continued to move higher with the June reading at 6.1 percent versus the latest Bloomberg consensus of six percent, with oil being the main culprit. Prior to the release, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas already mentioned higher prices of key food items and peso depreciation as among the inflationary pressures for the month of June,” Regina Capital said.

All the sectoral indices took the cue and closed in positive territory. Property, financials and industrial were the biggest gainers.

However, volume was still thin at P3.9 billion even as market breadth was notably positive with 119 gainers and 71 losers, while 46 issues were left unchanged.

Active stocks were led by Ayala Land Inc. which closed at P26.40 per share yesterday, up 2.72 percent. This was followed by Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which rose 2.49 percent to end at P37.10 per share.

COL Financial, in a research note yesterday said, Semirara is likely to be included in the PSEi in August.

“The PSEi is scheduled for its semi-annual rebalancing this August,” it said.

Converge ICT came in third. It lost five percent to P20.90 per share. This was followed by Universal Robina Corp., which rose 3.17 percent to end at P114 per share; BDO which rallied 2.77 percent to close at P118.70 per share and AC Energy which rose 4.09 percent to finish at P8.40 per share.

The rest were SM Prime Holdings which was up 4.02 percent to close at P37.50 per share; SM Investments Corp. which declined one percent to end at P792 per share; Monde Nissin which rose 5.30 to finish at P13.90 per share and ICTSI which recovered by 1.20 percent to close at P186 per share.