PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE STILL IN LISTLESS TRADING

The Philippine Stock Exchange today continued its listless trade although its index posted minimal gains as the big guns in the composite index closed higher resulting in the index going up by 22.53 points or 0.40% to close at 5,604.49 points.

Opening with a slight gain, the momentum did not carry over to higher ground showing weakness an hour and a half before the bell.

There were 75 gainers against 86 losers with 57 issues unchanged and focus of the trade that totaled P4.73 billion, way below its usual trading volume, were the second liners as investors tried to load up on the shares that have seen weakness before.

Ayala Corp and Ayala Land as well as Universal Robina and SM Investments saved the day for the PSE index eking out gains in today’s trade. Ayala rose by P2.93 to P684.50 while ALI gained 5 centavos to close at P32.05.

Conglomerates SM Investments and URC posted P15 and P2.22 higher to end the day at P835 and P124.10 respectively.

The financials sector was down, together with the mining and oil counters. BDO and Metrobank posted losses of PP1 and P0.10 to close respectively at P92 and P34.80.