Window dressing lifts PSEi to 7,700-level

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange closed on a strong note Friday helped by fund managers buying stocks to improve portfolios as the month draws to a close.

The bellwether PSEi gained 103.60 points or 1.36 percent to 7,721.02 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares increased by 53.78 points or 1.16 percent to 4,671.83.

“Window dressing started one business day early as they used the drama unfolding from the Korean Peninsula as a starting point,” Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said in a market commentary.

Fund managers make their portfolios look good at the end of a period by window dressing—buying winning positions and selling losing stocks.

Summit Securities Inc. president Harry Liu noted there was also bargain hunting as the market has reached oversold levels in recent sessions.

“I feel the market is a bit oversold, with volume shrinking, so rally would be in place,” Liu said.

Foreign funds bought P3.756 billion shares and sold P4.501 billion for a net selling position of P744.733 million.

More than 1.569 billion shares valued at P7.054 billion, changed hands. Advancers led decliners,124to69,and52issues were unchanged.

Week-on-week, the benchmark index lost 5.7 points or 0.073 percent from 7,726.72 onApril 20. The PSEi was down 1,003.11 points or 11.5 percent from 8,724.13 on Jan. 3, the first tradingdayof2018.(GMANews

Online)