Share prices closed higher for the fifth straight day on Tuesday, with sentiment bolstered by gains on Wall Street overnight in a Lenten-shortened trading week.
The possibility of Philippines-US trade talks in May also kept the market buoyant, analysts said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by P40.58 points or 0.66 percent to 6,186.10.
The broader All Shares index gained 18.76 points or 0.52 percent to 3,646.65.
Gainers edged out losers 102 to 79, with 66 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P4.46 billion.
Stockbroker SB Equities Inc. said the market shrugged off the weaker-than-expected February remittance growth data.
Personal remittances in February amounted to $2.72 billion, up 2.7 percent from $2.65 billion a year-earlier.
SB Equities said the market expected remittances to grow 2.9 percent in February.
“The index had a weak start but managed to score some gains,” SB Securities said.
Market sentiment also got a boost from US stocks, which rose Monday, Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said.
He said that markets have started to calm down from the previously pervasive anxiety, as it now approached the Lenten break.
Online stock trading platform Philstocks Financial Inc. said investors were also “pinning hopes on the possibility of a US-Philippines trade deal that could lead to lower tariffs of the former against the latter.”
“Among the sectors, only the mines declined, losing 0.4 percent. The industrials ended on top, adding 1.3 percent,” it said.
The most actively traded International Container Terminal Services Inc. shed P0.60 to P354. BDO Unibank Inc. gained P2.20 to P160. Ayala Land Inc. added P0.15 to P23.95. SM Prime Holdings Inc. slipped P0.10 to P22.65. Jollibee Foods Corp. climbed P10.40 to P230.60. Converge ICT Solutions Inc. closed up P0.74 to P18.74. SM Investments Corp. gained P14.50 to P829.50. Bloomberry Resorts Corp. dropped P0.05 to P2.90. Manila Electric Co. rose P18 to P578. Bank of the Philippine Islands gained P0.90 to P132.
