Stocks advance ahead of BSP meeting

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices sustained their climb for a second consecutive session as investors continued their bargain hunting while waiting for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) meeting this week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index improved by 0.42 percent or 26.59 points to end at 6,299.05, while the broader All Shares index rose by 0.98 percent or 33.32 points to settle at 3,441.09.

“Philippine shares rallied just a point shy of the 6,300 level as investors continued to window dress ahead of the end of semester,” Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said.

Claire Alviar of Philstocks Financial said the local bourse extended its gains yesterday as investors continued to hunt for bargain stocks.

“Investors were also anticipating the BSP meeting this week for clues on the timeline of interest rate cuts,” she said.

Alviar said foreign investors were net buyers during yesterday’s session, recording a net inflow of P11 million after nine straight days of net foreign selling worth P4.45 billion.

Net market value, however, turnover thinned to P3.93 billion from the previous day’s P5.51 billion.

Sectors were mostly in the green, except for holding firms and industrial that fell by 0.92 percent and 0.18 percent, respectively.

Services made the highest jump at 2.25 percent, followed by property with a 1.47-percent increase.

Advancers edged out decliners in a close contest, 93 to 92, while 52 issues were unchanged.

JG Summit Holdings led the index members with a 6.27 percent gain while Monde Nissin recorded the biggest loss at 4.5 percent.