PSEi back at 8,500 on bargain-hunting

PHILIPPINE shares climbed back to the 8,500 level on Tuesday as investors went bargain- hunting.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index ( PSEi) gained 1.09 percent or 92.40 points to close at 8,592.38. The wider All Shares grew by 1.03 percent or 52.35 points to end at 5,118.73.

“I think the driver for today was mostly bargain- hunting considering the sell- off seen in the past few days,” China Bank Securities Corp. Research Director Garie Ouaño said.

“The issues that mainly drove today’s move were the usual favorites— BDO Unibank, Inc. and SM Investments Corp., among others,” he added.

The Sy- led bank was up 4.67 percent or P7 to P157 apiece while the conglomerate added 1.57 percent or P15 to P970 per share at the closing bell.

Diversified Securities, Inc. equity trader Aniceto Pangan said share prices were belatedly buoyed by reports that the US Federal Reserve remained committed to a gradual increase in interest rates.

All Wall Street’s main indices were in the green with the Dow Jones leading gains with 1.58 percent. The S& P 500 and the techheavy Nasdaq Composite, mean- while, rose 1.18 percent and 1.15 percent, respectively.

Pangan said that Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia’s statements blaming rice inventory issues, instead of higher taxes, as having driven a January inflation spike also helped lift investor sentiment.

The mining and oil sector was the only decliner on Tuesday, falling by 0.67 percent.

More than 3.5 billion issues valued at P9.2 billion were traded.

Winners outmatched losers, 119 to 94, while 43 issues remained unchanged.