PSE RECOVERS LOST GROUND

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) recovered lost ground today but the weakness was still very much evident as it failed to sustain its short-lived rally closing at 5,775.50 points , up by 59.98 points or 1.04 percent, but below its high price point for the day.

It opened at 5,691.74 points and raced to a high of 5,802.49 points but selling pressure came in resulting in its lower index level in trade that saw gainers at 136 shares, losers at 52 issues and 46 unchanged with value turnover at P5.73 billion.

Universal Robina was the most active stock with value turnover of P510 million as it reported higher earnings yesterday. It closed P5.50 higher to P130.50 and shepherded the gainers that included the financials, holding firms, services, mining and oil, industrial and property firms which were in negative territory in Monday’s debacle.

Telco stocks Globe Telecom and PLDT posted gains too going up by P56 and P20 respectively. The financials were also up, except for Bank of PI which posted a loss of 20 centavos as it closed at P64.50. The other bank stocks like BDO Unibank went up by P2.15 to P87.15 while Metrobank was unchanged at P35.50.

Market darling MerryMart continued to be in the Top 20 active stocks as it posted a 21-centavo gain to P2.71 with value turnover at P96.7 million. The other notable gainers were Ayala Land which was up by 90 centavos, Emperador, up one centavo, Ayala Corp., up P5, SM Prime, up 10 centavos and SM Investments up P5.

Market punters said that the continued weakness in the local stock market could be attributed to the continued uncertainty over the government handling of the Covid 19 pandemic. Another thing is the lack of good news from the economic front as the remittances showed a decline and foreign investments continue to pivot away from the country.