Bargain hunters keep local bourse up for third straight days

By: Komfie Manalo

Bargain hunters are keeping the local bourse in positive territory for the third straight day, taking a cue from the mixed performance of U.S. equities.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed Wednesday at 6,313.11, or 0.22% higher than the previous day’s trading. All Shares also increased 0.28% to 3,450.58.

“Local shares closed slightly above the 6,300 level as bargain hunting continued before the semester end. This patterned the mixed performance of U.S. equities,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.

Among sectoral indices, only Holding Firms and Mining and Oil ended in the negative territory, down by 0.64% and 0.12%, respectively.

This day’s winners included Services, up 0.86%; Industrial, 0.63%; property, 0.22%; and Financials, 0.15%.

Decliners outpaced advancers at 90 to 85, with 69 left unchanged. Meanwhile, the peso shed 0.09 to 58.86 to a U.S. dollar, down from 58.77 to a dollar the previous day.