Peaceful polls send PSEi above 7,300

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) breached the 7,300-point level for the first time yesterday, boosted largely by the peaceful elections and strong first quarter corporate earnings, analysts said.

The  PSEi   climbed 0.70 percent or 51.08 points to settle at its 30th all-time high this year at 7,313.46.

The main index also recorded a new intraday high at 7,349.95, breaking the previous record of 7,284.34 on May 6.

Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., said the stock market benefited from a spillover buying from last week.

“Favorable earnings report and the peaceful conduct of elections continue to encourage investors,” del Castillo said.

For Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at BDO Unibank Inc., preliminary election results favoring administration candidates validates the president’s mandate.

“This should see continuation of economic reforms needed to sustain the present gains. This lifted investor sentiment,” Ravelas said.

Most counters were in the green, led by financial firms that jumped 1.24 percent or 23.20 points to 1,895.06. But the mining sector, which sank 2.59 percent or 506.53 points to 19,020.77, weighed down the PSEi.

The value of shares traded improved to P10.02 billion from P7.52 billion on Friday. Financial markets were closed on Monday for the national elections.

Advancers and decliners were even at 81 apiece, while 50 stocks did not change.

Blue chips were the stars of the trading, led by top traded and casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. (up 2.79 percent), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Corp. (up 2.62 percent) and Metropolitan bank & Trust Co. (up 3.42 percent).

Meanwhile, stronger activity of stock market investors resulted in hefty gains for the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in the first quarter.

In a disclosure, the operator of the country’s sole stock exchange said its earnings grew around 28 percent to P184.81 million in the first quarter compared with P144.63 million year-on-year.

Revenues hit P263.41 million, up 18.14 percent from P222.96 million last year due to an increase in service fees and listing- and trading-related income.

Specifically, trading-related income that includes regulatory fees of the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. jumped 17 percent to P11.41 million on the back of an increase in daily value turnover to P10.22 billion in the first quarter from P7.84 billion a year ago.