Index flirts with all-time high

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) flirted with the 8,100 level yesterday after breaching the 8,000-point mark on Wednesday.

But it was still a positive day for investors as the stock market took the cue from regional peers, which were mostly up after the US Federal Reserve took a dovish stance.

The PSEi gained another 8.27 points to close at 8,045.78, while the broader All Shares gauge gained 1.78 points to settle at 4,781.58.

Total value turnover declined to P7.13 billion from Wednesday’s P8 billion and market breadth was negative, 115 to 94 while 53 issues were left unchanged.

The stock market gauge has recently been flirting with the 8,000 levels.

Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital said local shares traded on a slightly positive note based on new highs after Fed officials voted unanimously to keep their benchmark rate in a range between one and 1.25 percent.

“The Federal Reserve signalled Wednesday it’s ready as soon as September to start slowly shrinking its holdings of more than $4 trillion in bonds it bought to try to buoy the economy,” Limlingan said.