BUSINESS

Local bourse still in green, gains 14 points

Vivienne Angeles

The Philippine stock market on Tuesday ended in green, increasing by 14.96 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 7,432.21.

Most sectors climbed, with Properties leading the green territory gaining by 0.95 percent, followed by Banking and Industrials up by 0.44 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.

Services was the biggest loser, down by 0.62 percent, followed by Holding Firms shredding by 0.03 percent.

Manila Electric Company was the top index gainer, jumping by 3.45 percent to P450. Century Pacific Food, on the other hand, was the main laggard, down by 3.51 percent to P38.

The local bourse continued to rally as investors took cues from Wall Street’s record performance overnight driven by optimism towards the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy stance, according to Philstocks Financial Inc. senior research analyst Japhet Tantiangco.

He added that positive sentiment towards the policy outlook of the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas also boosted the index.

The net market value turnover surged to P11.24 billion, with winners edging losers at 102 to 100, while 57 names remain unchanged.

Ayala Land Inc. was the most actively traded stock at P1,643,302,875, up by 2.96 percent, followed by BDO Unibank, Inc., at P1,521,368,867, up by 2.45 percent.

The peso closed weaker at P56.24 to a dollar from 55.97 on Monday.

It opened at 56.05, with its lowest at 55.97 and highest at 56.33.

The weighted average was 56.107.