Shares return to 6,900 on late bargain hunting

THE stock market rallied for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday after investors searched for bargains before trading closed.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) inched up by 0.34 percent or 23.22 points to finish at its intraday high of 6,942.76 while the wider All Shares added 0.16 percent or 6.84 points to close at 4,186.76.

Philstocks Financial Inc. research associate Claire Alviar noted that investors were monitoring corporations’ full-2020 financial results and the country’s belated rollout of its coronavirus vaccination program.

“So far, the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines is [fostering] positive sentiment, since the government is now considering [placing] the entire Philippines [under] MGCQ (modified general community quarantine),” Alviar said, referring to the least restrictive of the government’s four quarantine classifications.

The main index was mostly in the red during intraday trading after Wall Street fell overnight.

The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped by 0.46 percent, 0.81 percent and 1.69 percent, respectively.

Despite the rally, the indices of most local sectors fell. Mining and oil lost the most at 0.76 percent while holding firms and financials gained 0.73 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively.

Total volume turnover was 221.53 billion shares, valued P34.09 billion.

Decliners edged out advancers, 125 to 101, while 40 securities were unchanged. at at