Philippines shares closed the week in the green due to positive economic data, as markets in the region also got a boost with more economies reopening.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 38.25 points or 0.54% to close at 7,002.26 on Friday, while the all shares index went up by 19.54 points or 0.45% to end at 4,294.97.
“Philippine shares touched the 7,000 mark to end the week as positive sentiment spilled over to the region, bolstered by better-than-expected economic data and as energy stocks got a boost from crude oil hitting $75 a barrel,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message on Friday.
On Thursday, preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s May 2021 round of its Labor Force Survey showed that the country’s unemployment rate in May slowed to 7.7% from 8.7% in April, the second-lowest rate recorded since the year began.
The IHS Market also reported on Thursday that manufacturing activity in the Philippines expanded in June after two months of contraction following the implementation of less stringent quarantine restrictions. The Philippine Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) went up to 50.8 in June from 49.9 in May.
“The local market closed higher together with most Asian markets, on growing investor optimism towards the progress made over the reopening of a lot of economies across the globe,” Timson Securities, Inc. trader Darren Blaine T. Pangan said in a separate Viber message.
All sectoral indices closed in the green on Friday. Services gained 23.55 points or 1.48% to 1,614.81; mining and oil climbed 102.52 points or 1.05% to finish at 9,838.56; property went up by 18.06 points or 0.53% to 3,375.14; holding firms improved by 27.19 points or 0.38% to close at 7,026.58; financials inched up by 4.36 points or 0.28% to 1,518.49; and industrials rose by 26.57 points or 0.27% to
9,701.48.
Value turnover dropped to P5.85 billion with 2.77 billion issues traded on Friday, from the P13.52 billion with 2.93 shares recorded on Thursday.
Advancers beat decliners, 108 against 100, while 36 names closed unchanged.
Foreigners turned buyers with P1.95 billion recorded in net purchases on Friday, a reversal of the P4 billion logged in net outflows the previous trading day.
For next week, Timson Securities’ Mr. Pangan expects the index to trade between 6,820 and 7,080. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte