Share prices ended higher Wednesday, tracking overseas leads and following the further reopening of the economy.
“Philippine shares climbed on Wednesday to two-year highs following Tuesday’s break for Lunar New Year celebrations as investors continued to cheer the easing of mobility curbs in Metro Manila to a less stringent Alert Level 2 and the government scrapping quarantine restrictions for vaccinated tourists,” said stockbroker SB Equities Inc.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was up 97.34 points to 7,458.99, a 1.32 percent hike.
The broader all shares index was up 28.87 points to 3,933.07, a 0.74 percent hike. Gainers edged losers 123 to 81 with 47 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P7.84 billion.
The peso closed at 51.045 to the dollar, up from 51.175 on Monday.
The currency opened at 51.05 and hit a high of 50.99 and a low of 51.18. Trading turnover reached $1.19 billion.
“Despite domestic January manufacturing PMI declining to 50 from 51.8 in December predominantly on the back of the Omicron-led COVID (new coronavirus disease 2019) wave, optimism over the reopening theme saw the benchmark index track Wall Street’s lead and extend Monday’s advance,” SB Equities said.
Most actively traded Ayala Land Inc. was up P1.10 to P37. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P4.70 to P139.70. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P1.10 to P36.20. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P2.50 to P100.60. Solar Power Nueva Ecija Corp. was up P0.10 to P2.32. Security Bank Corp. was up P2.80 to P110. SM Investments Corp was up P16 to P965. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P0.20 to P200.20. Ayala Corp. was up P8 to P878. Monde Nissin Corp. was up P0.18 to P16.56.
