PSEi rebounds on bargain hunting, income results

STOCKS rebounded on Thursday on bargain hunting and the release of more local and US corporate financial reports.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained by 45.54 points or 0.66% to close at 6,909.45 on Thursday, while the broader all shares index went up by 17.15 points or 0.46% to 3,677.48.

“The market ended in green territory amid investors hunting for bargains following the bourse’s weak performance yesterday. Market participants may also be assessing the corporate earnings reports that have continued to be released over the past few days,” Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Darren Blaine T. Pangan said in a Viber message.

“Bargain hunting emerged anew and that’s due to corporate earnings resilience in some sectors,” First Metro Investment Corp. Head of Research Cristina S. Ulang said in a Viber message.

“Philippine shares rose to recover some previous losses, as concerns over inflation and global economic growth stirred up further volatility across risk assets…

Investors digested a slew of mixed corporate earnings from the likes of Microsoft and Alphabet,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

Mr. Limlingan said investors are waiting for other technology firms’ earnings, namely from Apple, Amazon, and Twitter, among others.

A mixed bag of earnings from some of Wall Street’s biggest companies may muddy the outlook for investors hoping to “buy the dip” amid a vicious stock market sell-off, Reuters reported.

With a massive week of corporate results under way, Google parent Alphabet, Inc. reported first-quarter revenue below expectations on Tuesday, while software giant Microsoft Corp. forecast double-digit revenue growth for its next fiscal year.

At home, listed companies have begun announcing their results for full-year 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.

All sectoral indices ended in the green on Thursday. Mining and oil surged by 145.83 points or 1.26% to 11,636.26; financials rose by 16.88 points or 1.03% to 1,644; holding firms climbed by 45.14 points or 0.70% to 6,453.45; services went up by 13.18 points or 0.68% to 1,929.70; industrials added 52.48 points or 0.56% to end at 9,395.95; and property increased by 1.49 points or 0.04% to 3,172.35.

The MidCap index advanced by 6.79 points or 0.60% to 1,130.57 and the Dividend Yield index gained 15.06 points or 0.93% to 1,631.49.

Advancers outnumbered decliners, 92 versus 83, while 58 names ended unchanged.

Value turnover decreased to P5.73 billion with 8.5 billion shares changing hands on Thursday from the P8.78 billion with 816.50 million issues seen the previous day.

Foreigners turned sellers anew with P772.5 million in net sales on Thursday versus the P1.67 billion in net purchases recorded on Wednesday.

For Friday, the last trading day of the week, Timson Securities’ Mr. Pangan placed immediate support at the 6,800 area and resistance at 7,510. —