Index closes week at new record high

MANILA, Philippines - The local stock market rose to a new record high yesterday, mainly driven by upbeat sentiment and the strong performance of other Asian markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) recorded its 14th record close for the year to finish at 7,825.39, 21.94 points or 0.3 percent higher than Wednesday’s close of 7,803.45.

The benchmark index has risen by 8.2 percent so far this year.

“Trading activity may be muted because of the Lunar New Year break in other countries but it has obviously not kept the index from gaining,” PSE president Hans B. Sicat said in a statement.

“We are pleased that alongside the record highs, we have seen the market’s daily average turnover almost double to P11.70 billion from the same period last year. We hope that this level of activity will be sustained, and hopefully even improve in the coming months,” Sicat said.

Most of the counters, except the financials and mining and oil indices, edged higher.  The Holding firms sub-index logged the highest gain, climbing .67 percent followed by property which rose 0.34 percent and industrial (0.15 percent).

A total of 4.11 billion shares, valued at P6.89 billion, changed hands yesterday. Gainers outpaced decliners 90-83 while 51 were unchanged.

Analysts said investors cheered a Supreme Court ruling that stopped the Bureau of Internal Revenue from collecting corporate income tax from earnings derived from Pagcor’s gaming operations.