The PSEi closed moderately higher on Monday, gaining 0.46 percent as investors cherry-picked blue chip stocks while hoping for a productive meeting between US and Chinese trade officials in London.
Japhet Tantiangco, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said investors were hoping for the upcoming US-China trade talks in London to be productive, and “eventually lead to better relations between the two.”
Investors continued to monitor regional market movements, inflation trends and policy signals from central banks that could influence local equities.
“Hopes of policy easing by the (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) in their meeting next week also helped the climb,” Tantiangco also said.
The PSEi rose 0.46 percent or 29.34 points to end at 6,406.13.
The broader All Shares also posted a modest increase, rising 0.20 percent or 7.37 points to 3,786.59.
Despite the gains in both indices, market breadth remained negative, with 117 decliners outpacing 85 advancers, while 50 issues were unchanged.
Total market turnover stood at P5.07 billion, with 1.08 billion shares traded across 73,703 transactions, indicating subdued activity.
Foreign funds were net sellers valued at P205.02 million, after buying P1.91 billion worth of shares and selling P2.12 billion.
Monday’s close marks the second straight session that the PSEi stayed above the 6,400 level, reflecting a degree of stability despite persistent external headwinds.
SB Equities Inc. said there was a spillover of positive sentiment from overseas, since the US market closed higher after the better-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls numbers released late last week.
Most actively traded Bloomberry Resorts Corp. gained P0.92 to P5.92. DigiPlus Interactive Corp. rose P2.90 to P64.90. SM Investments Corp. increased P25 to P75. BDO Unibank Inc. added P2.10 to P157.90. Converge ICT Solutions Inc. firmed P0.40 to P21.40. Bank of the Philippine Islands lost P0.40 to P139.60. Ayala Land Inc. declined 0.30 to P23.95. International Container Terminal Services Inc. climbed P4.60 to P413.60. SM Prime Holdings Inc. shed P0.25 to P22.95. PLDT Inc. dropped P17 to P1,233. (With a report from Reuters)
