Index breaches 7,000 points

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange index broke through the 7,000 level yesterday, closing at its highest in almost a month as fund managers turned more optimistic on local stocks.

The PSEi climbed 1.51 percent or 104.14 points to 6,998.37, retreating from the intraday high of 7,005.71 while posting its best closing since 6,999.10 on July 7. The broader all shares index added 1.28 percent or 52.77 points to finish at 4,176.46.

“The market was very strong, breaking through the 7,000 level. This came on the back of the weakness in developed markets last week and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rate hike,” Miguel A. Agarao, an analyst at Wealth Securities Inc., said in a phone interview.

However, fund managers that put an underweight rating on the Philippines were forced to catch up to the market’s rally, Agarao said.

The market posted an almost 200-point advance in two days “as earnings and growth optimism overshadowed the rate hike and weakness in international markets,” said Gab Aguila of DA Market Securities.

Strong earnings reports from companies like SM Prime Holdings Inc. (+ 3.9 percent), DoubleDragon Properties Corp. (+3.59 percent) and Philex Mining Corp. (+1.76 percent) also buoyed the main index.

In contrast, Asian stocks were mixed on worries of further drop in Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.31 percent or 48.61 points to 15,474.50.

Locally, all counters were in the green, led by mining and oil that rallied 2.37 percent or 396.45 points to 17,125.33.

Excluding block sales, turnover value improved to P7.5 billion from P7.14 billion on Friday. Advancers dominated decliners, 122 to 55, while 46 stocks did not change.

All top-traded stocks closed higher, led by index heavyweight PLDT (+1.16 percent) while SM Investments Corp. added 0.89 percent and Alliance Global Group Inc. jumped 3.75 percent due to a buy recommendation from Deutsche Bank.