LOCAL STOCKS picked up on Monday as publicly listed companies started reporting positive earnings in the third quarter.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 24.03 points or 0.30% to close at 7,946.53, as the broader all-shares index increased 7.22 points or 0.15% to 4,774.25.

Luis A. Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., attributed the increase to the strong quarterly earnings of companies such as BDO Unibank, Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and Manila Electric Co.

Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Jervin S. de Celis added that the rally in shares of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. helped lift the PSEi by contributing 10.59 points to the main index’s uptick.

“[A]lthough the company has not released its earning report yet, investors are probably already anticipating good figures,” he said in a text message. Shares in JG Summit climbed 2.46% at the close of yesterday’s session.

He also pointed at the shares of SM Investments Corp. as a driver of the PSEi’s increase. Despite losing 0.29% at the end of trading, Mr. De Celis said on Monday that “the last minute buy orders from foreigners pushed (its) price…thereby cutting its -1.56% pullback today to only -0.29%.”

Sectoral indices ended mixed. Financials rose 30.11 points or 1.60% to 1,906.90 and holding firms climbed 30.35 points or 0.39% to 7,775.39. The rest fell, with mining and oil dropping 67.23 points or 0.73% to 9,142. Property went down 17.46 points or 0.41% to 4,148.83; services declined by 4.64 points or 0.30% to 1,526.89; and industrials lost 22.77 points or 0.21% to 10,447.30.

Shares in Suntrust Home Developers, Inc. continued trading at high volumes, soaring 0.46 points or 36.8% to close at P1.71 apiece on Monday.

Mr. Limlingan of Regina Capital said this is likely from investor speculation on the increase in net foreign buying in the company’s shares in previous sessions. Mr. De Celis of Timson Securities, meanwhile, said this is due to the anticipated increase in the firm’s authorized capital stock from P3 billion to P23 billion. Suntrust will hold its stockholders’ meeting Tuesday.

Value turnover on Monday stood at P5.88 billion, dropping from Friday’s P6.97 billion, with 1.36 billion issues changing hands.

Decliners outnumbered advancers, 105 to 81, while 65 names ended unchanged.

Foreign investors were bullish, recording net purchases of P142.55 million on Monday, a reversal of Friday’s net selling worth P307.28 million.

Meanwhile, most Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Monday, lifted by hopes that Washington and Beijing were close to finalizing parts of a trade pact, while the Thai bourse dropped nearly 1% after the United States suspended duty-free trade with the country for certain items last week.

US President Donald Trump has said he hopes to sign the deal with China’s President Xi Jinping next month at a summit in Chile. — Denise A. Valdez with Reuters

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