By Arra B. Francia
Reporter
SHARES CLIMBED on Tuesday despite mostly negative trading for most of the session, driven by the rally of retailer stocks in Wall Street on Cyber Monday.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose for a fourth straight session yesterday, adding 0.21% or 15.76 points to close at 7,413.63. The broader all-shares index also firmed up 0.39% or 17.67 points to 4,458.76.
“No slowdown again for Philippine investors for the last week of November still, as they continued to buy at close with the market trading in the red for most of the session,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.
“Sentiment was boosted as US shares closed higher Monday with retailers rallying on expectations of strong sales from deals on Cyber Monday,” Mr. Limlingan added, referring to the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.
With this, Wall Street’s major indices rallied. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring 1.46% or 354.29 points to 24,640.24. The Nasdaq Composite index jumped 2.06% or 142.87 points to 7,081.85, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.55% or 40.89 points to 2,673.45.
Asian markets, meanwhile, were mixed, as investors focused on the meeting between US President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, Papa Securities Corp. Head of Marketing and Business Development Arbee B. Lu attributed the PSEi’s sideways movement to indecision.
“[Tuesday]’s choppy trading may be signs of indecision as we approach resistance at 7,480. We may see similar action in the days to come as investors await November inflation data next week,” Ms. Lu said in an e-mail.
Net buying also lifted the index after foreign investors booked net purchases of P312.80 million, a reversal of the net selling position of P631.89 million on Monday.
Ms. Lu noted that foreign investors bought stocks of mostly banking and property firms on Tuesday, such as BDO Unibank, Inc., SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Sectoral indices were split between gainers and advancers. Moving to positive territory was the financials counter, which jumped 1.09% or 19.19 points to 1,764.56. Holding firms followed with a 0.58% or 42.24-point uptick to 7,281.64, while services added 0.04% or 0.66 point to 1,415.73.
On the other hand, mining and oil fell 1.61% or 139.91 points to 8,513.70. Property slumped 0.64% or 23.18 points to 3,577.03, while industrials dropped 0.59% or 64.24 points to 10,710.35.
Turnover went up to P7.59 billion after some 1.18 billion issues switched hands, rising from the previous session’s P6.88 billion.
Market breadth was positive with 98 advancers versus 76 decliners, while 58 names ended flat.SHARES CLIMBED on Tuesday despite mostly negative trading for most of the session, driven by the rally of retailer stocks in Wall Street on Cyber Monday.

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