THE LOCAL BOURSE took a breather on Wednesday, recovering after two days of dampened sentiment due to fears of a contagion amid a crisis in Turkey.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 0.17% or 13.14 points Wednesday, August 15, to close at 7,540.92.
The broader all-shares index also went up 0.35% or 16.13 points to 4,595.05.
“Investors gave some breathing space midweek to reassess the movement of the index after the sudden change of the global macroeconomic environment,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.
“US stocks bounced back with the S&P 500 breaking its longest losing streak since March as the worst of the panic over Turkey’s currency crisis eased. However, this was offset by the remittance data which fell for the month of June,” Mr. Limlingan added.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended four-day losing streaks with broad-based gains across industry groups.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.22 points or 0.45% to 25,299.92; the S&P 500 gained 18.03 points or 0.64% to 2,839.96; and the Nasdaq Composite added 51.19 points or 0.65% to 7,870.89.
“The PSEi ended positive after ALI (Ayala Land, Inc.) closed by 1.61% higher than [Tuesday]’s closing as investors bought its shares when it traded above its 100-day average,” Jervin S. de Celis, trader at Timson Securities, Inc. said in a mobile message.
“This rally contributed 10 points to the index while AEV (Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc.) and BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) were also bought up by investors before market close which also added a few points to lift our index,” Mr. De Celis added.
Wednesday, August 15, ALI rose 1.61% or 0.65 point to end P41.10 per share; AEV went up 1.74% or 1 point to P58.60 per share; while BPI finished 1.19% or 1.1 points to P93.5 apiece.
“Foreigners, however, sold P645 million worth of shares as Turkey refuses to follow the demands of US,” Mr. De Celis added.
Net foreign selling thinned to P645.47 million Wednesday, August 15, from Tuesday’s P1.47-billion outflow.
“We can assume that the PSEi’s close [Wednesday, August 15,] was forced up as investors try to find support above 7,500 which was also the support level earlier this year,” he added.
Counters were divided on Wednesday. Financials climbed 1% or 18.11 points to 1,820; industrials rose 0.58% or 63.58 points to 11,014.02; and holding firms edged up 0.05% or 4.33 points to 7,413.69.
Meanwhile, mining and oil slumped 1.54% or 155.55 points to 9,903.36; services dropped 0.32% or 4.84 points to 1,499.83; and property declined 0.06% or 2.21 points to 3,703.43.
Advancers outnumbered losers, 113 to 91, while 60 issues were unchanged.
Value turnover totaled P5.12 billion as 1.97 billion shares switched hands, down from Tuesday’s P5.31 billion. — Janina C. Lim with Reuters

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