PH STOCK MARKET UPBEAT; GAINS 0.54%

The local stock barometer closed the first week of 2017 on an upbeat note as foreign investors rekindled their interest on local equities.

Amid mixed trading across the region ahead of the release of the widely watched US jobs data, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 38.76 points or 0.54 percent to close at 7,248.20 yesterday.

The local index rallied to as high as 7,289.51 in intra-day trade but pared gains in the afternoon session.

For the first week of the new year, the PSEi gained a total of 448.87 points or 6.5 percent. The index rose in the last four trading session as investors scouted for fresh investments for the coming year.

Foreign investors were in a net buying position for the sixth straight trading session. On Friday, net foreign inflows to the stock market amounted to P362 million.

The day’s gain was led by the services counter, which advanced by 1.17 percent on the back of gains realized by Globe Telecom. Only the mining/oil counter slipped during the day.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.56 billion. There were just as many advancers as decliners (101).

The PSEi was led higher by Globe Telecom, which surged by 6.25 percent.

Aboitiz Equity was up by 3.17 percent. ICTSI rose by 2.92 percent while AGI gained 2.29 percent.

Ayala Land, BDO and JG Summit all went up by more than 1 percent while SM Prime, Metrobank, SM Investments, URC and Megaworld also contributed to the day’s gains.

On the other hand, Petron fell by 5.34 percent on reports that it had to clean up the coastline of Limay town in Bataan after tons of ash were emitted from a coal- fired power plant inside its refinery. The San Miguel group clarified that while it was helping to clean up, the emission was not from Petron’s plant but from the dismantling of the adjacent Limay plant foreclosed by the local government unit.

DMCI was down by 2.67 percent while Security Bank, Ayala Corp., PLDT, Metro Pacific and Semirara all slipped.

In the meantime, Asian shares ended mixed yesterday as investors awaited the release of US jobs report, which could give a clue to monetary policy direction for the year. Overnight, major US stock benchmarks were mostly sluggish.