PSEi rebounds on select buying in blue chips

Philippine shares closed in the green on Thursday, despite opening on a weak note, as last-minute buyers took positions in select blue chip stocks.

The bellwether PSEi gained 110.69 points or 1.36% to 8,272.18 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares increased by 37.60 points or 0.76% to 4,993.84.

“The main index was dragged down by the losses in JFC (Jollibee Foods Corp.) at the start of the trading session,” AAA Equities head of research Chris Mangun said.

“However, last minute gains on several blue chips allowed the PSEi to end much higher,” Mangun noted.

On Wednesday, Jollibee announced an acquisition deal covering The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® brand, owned by Los Angeles-based International Coffee & Tea LLC, for a total consideration of $350 million. 

The announcement, however, spooked investors as Coffee Been and Tea Leaf incurred a loss of $21 million—roughly equivalent to 12% or 13% of JFC’s profit

JFC shares declined by 5.98% or P15.00 to P236.00 per share on Thursday from P251.00 on Wednesday.

“Almost every blue chip, other than JFC, closed the day at its high,” Mangun said.

Foreign funds bought P4.292 billion of shares and sold P4.167 billion for a net buying position of P124.457 million.

“Foreign investors were net-buyers today at P124.4 million,” Mangun said.

More than 894.307 million shares valued at P8.273 billion, changed hands. Decliners led advancers, 124 to 79, and 48 issues were unchanged. —VDS, GMA News