Stocks close at new record high
Zinnia B. dela Peña
Philippine Star
The local stock market extended its gains for a fourth straight day as share prices rose 1.63 percent to another record finish yesterday, inspired by Wall Street’s rally overnight and expectations of strong second-quarter corporate earnings, dealers said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index, the PSEi, gained 60.31 points to finish at a record 3,751.99, coming off an all-time intra-day high of 3,760.49. The previous record was set on June 20 when the index settled at 3,718.88. The PSEi is now up 769.45 points or 25.8 percent since the start of the year.
Analysts said that after a recent pullback, there was an element of select bargain hunting to provide additional support.
A total of 2.5 billion shares changed hands, valued at P5.9 billion. Advancers beat losers 106 to 24 while 41 stocks ended unchanged.
“We’ve probably not seen the end of this rally yet,” said First Grade Holdings managing director Astro del Castillo.
He said recent technical corrections allowed players to hunt for bargains among blue chip issues and in laggard second and third-line stocks.
“There was fresh interest in some of the large-caps and select second- and third-line stocks after last week’s losses, added Chase Yap of 2TradeAsia.
Yap said investors anticipating solid corporate earnings for the second quarter have also started accumulating stocks.
“There is renewed confidence in the market but we will have to watch over the next few days to determine if the market is ready for a new and sustainable breakout level,” said James Lago of Westlink Global Equities.
Yap said investors anticipating solid corporate earnings for the second quarter have also started accumulating stocks.
“Some investors are positioning early, and are snapping up issues which they believe have performed in line with expectations and maybe fared even better.”
Among blue chips, index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) was the biggest gainer, surging P50 or 1.89 percent to P2,700 as it extended the gains of its New York-traded American depositary receipts.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp. gained P5 or 0.92 percent to P550 while three of its subsidiaries also went up: Globe Telecom, the second largest phone firm, rose P45 to P1,400; Ayala Land was up 75 centavos or 4.41 percent to P17.75; and Manila Water Co., which holds the water supply concession for Metro Manila’s east zone, rose 50 centavos to P13.
Another Ayala unit, Bank of the Philippine Islands, likewise increased P3 or 4.38 percent to P71.50
Oil giant Petron Corp. gained 40 centavos or 7.41 percent to close at P5.80.
San Miguel Corp. saw its A shares steady at P73.50 but its B shares gained one peso to P83.
Listed information and technology conglomerate IPVG Corp. was the top gainer with shares rising by 20 percent to close at P8.40 from the previous close of P7 on news that the firm’s call center firm acquired a 260-seat contact center operated by Globalstride Corp. and existing customer accounts of Globalstride Holdings Ltd.
A total of 20.754 million IPVG shares changed hands valued at P159.56 million.
Among the top gainers, second-liner technology stocks shared the spotlight. Aside from IPVG Corp., Island Information and Technology rose 20 percent to close at 12 centavos. Transpacific Broadband Group and Information Capital Technology Ventures gained 19.8 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively, to P2.42 and P4.70.
Other top gainers were Mabuhay Holdings, Oriental Petroleum, Swift Foods, Mutlitech Investments, Zeus Holdings and ATN Holdings.
On the losing side, meanwhile, were Aboitiz Transport, Prime Gaming, Abra Mining and Medco Holdings, shedding off between 6.38 percent to 15.56 percent.
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