Share prices hit new record high

MANILA, Philippines - After weeks of staying below the radar, the Philippine Stock Exchange index surged yesterday to another all-time high ahead of the Monetary Board’s policy setting meeting.

The PSEi gained 0.44 percent or 34.76 points to zoom to its 20th record close for the year at 7,871.10.

Yesterday’s finish eclipsed the PSEi’s previous all-time high of 7,861.33 recorded on March 6.

The index started out slow due to the downtrend seen in markets abroad but  slowly picked up pace in positive anticipation of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policy meet scheduled later in the day.

Most Asian stocks fell following declines in Wall Street and rising tensions in the Middle East.

In Wall Street, all three indexes were in the red, with the Nasdaq sliding 2.37 percent, the Dow losing 1.62 percent, and the S&P 500 falling 1.46 percent.

Grace Cerdenia, research head at F Yap Securities, said Wall Street’s sharp overnight retreat, which weighed on regional sentiment, was expected to dampen local stocks.

Cerdenia, however, said descents have been limited by the anticipation on the local monetary board’s next call on policy.

“The bears fail to dominate the market as bulls fought back and provided the balance that has characterized the market for the last three-to-four weeks. By the end of the session, however, a sufficient number of buyers entered the picture to push to a new record  towards an attempt at the 7900-mark,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

Industrial companies and holding firms, meanwhile, led the gainers as they picked up 0.78 and 0.74 percent, respectively.