PSEi up 7 points to 30th all-time-high close for the year

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 7 points in active trading Tuesday, its 30th all-time-high closing for the year. Despite a trading halt of more than two hours because of technical problems, a generally positive sentiment reinforced by window-dressing and repositioning of portfolios for 2013 helped the market, said Abbygayle Estrella, equity analyst at AB Capital Securities Inc.

 

The impending merger of Bank of the Philippine Islands and the Lucio Tan Group’s Philippine National Bank and its affiliate Allied Banking Corp. continued to drive the positive sentiment prodding people to trade, Estrella noted.

 

Coming down from an intra-day all-time high of 5,615.62, the main PSEi advanced 7.03 points or 0.13 percent to close at 5,586.45.

 

More than 2.462 billion shares valued at P6.166 billion changed hands.

 

However, decliners led advancers 79 to 68 with 50 issues unchanged.

 

The fourth quarter sentiment is also boosting the market, particularly consumer stocks because of the expected sales during the holidays, said Estrella.

 

This is spreading the buyers beyond the index stocks to second-tier issues, she added. — BM, GMA News