Index rebounds on strong blue chips

MANILA, Philippines - The strong performance of blue chips resulted in the rebound of the bellwether index following two days of decline.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSEi) index recovered 0.78 percent or 53.19 points to close at 6,870.90, while the broader all shares index rose 0.63 percent or 25.89 points to 4,111.97.

“The PSEI snapped out of a two-session slump that delivered only the sixth weekly loss in the first 20 weeks year-to-date,” said Justino B. Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

Companies like Metrobank (+1.96 percent), SM Investments Corp. (+1.5 percent), Alliance Global Group Inc. (+3.28 percent), Jollibee Foods Corp. (+3.33 percent) and DMCI Holdings Inc. (+2.88 percent) recorded price improvements yesterday.

Calaycay said second and even third-tier counters also recorder price increases.

Local shares tracked the rebound in Wall Street on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.27 percent or 44.50 points to 16,491.31, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 0.37 percent or 7.01 points to 1,877.86 due to small-cap companies closing higher.

In contrast, Asian markets incurred losses yesterday. “East Asian markets are mostly in the red as concerns over the Chinese economy, which has not gone away, moved front and centre in the absence of other developments to focus on,” Calaycay said.

Locally, all counters were in the green, led by the property sector that climbed 1.17 percent or 31.72 points to 2,753.51 while holding firms improved 1.02 percent or 63.09 points to 6,222.82.