PSEi scales new highs above 9,000-level

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange soared to new highs on Monday, driven by sustained optimism in the economy.

The bellwether PSEi gained 17.42 points or 0.19 percent to 9,058.62. The broader All Shares climbed 3.68 points or 0.07 percent to 5,273.00.

This is the highest and ninth all-time high so far this year since the PSEi closed at 9,041.20 on Friday.

“It’s the balance between the positives of the economy and the emerging risks. Investors in the market are suggesting or indicating that the positives still outnumber the negatives so that’s where we are right now,” Justino Calaycay Jr., senior analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said.

Calaycay noted the market is now waiting for more positive catalysts as investors have outgrown the already discounted the previous drivers.

“A lot of the other positives have been discounted,” Calaycay said, citing the passage of the tax reform program and government spending on infrastructure.

The market registered an intraday high of 9,078.37 and an intraday low of 9,008.41.

There were investors on the sidelines waiting for “the next impetus ... and should come from corporate earnings results,” Calaycay noted.
Foreign funds bought P4.450 billion of shares during the session and sold P4.536 billion for a net selling position of P86.041 million.

More than 1.268 billion shares, valued at P8.871 billion, changed hands. Decliners outnumbered advancers, 116 to 95, and 55 issues were unchanged. —VDS, GMA News