July 7 The Philippine Stock Market Review

July 7 The Philippine Stock Market Review

Rampaging PLDT once again lifted the Philippine benchmark index, the Phisix near its psychological 1,600 resistance level (less than two points away) to close up .47% or 7.44 points. PLDT up 2.04% was supported by gains from SM Primeholdings higher 1.66% and counterbalanced the declines seen in other index heavyweights such as Metrobank declined by 1.81%, Ayala Corp lower 1.78% and San Miguel foreign or B shares down .7%. The other index heavyweights as Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecoms, San Miguel local or A shares and Ayala Land closed unchanged for the day. These eight index heavyweights constitutes more than 75% of the Phisix benchmark, meaning that most of the index’s moves are determined by the price changes of the 8 largest publicly listed companies.

Inflows of foreign capital to PLDT was an astounding 80% of the firms output and has practically imbued the largest chunk of overseas investments which recorded a net P 20.541 million for the entire market today.

Market sentiment despite closing higher had a generally bearish backdrop, decliners led advancers 39 to 24, while companies that registered foreign capital outflows were more than inflows by 18 to 15, and lastly, on per industry index, only the PLDT led commercial and industrial index and the property index accounted for gains while three indices the Banking and Finance, the extractive industries, oil and mining posted losses.

Our market’s performance probably mirrors that of the region as most of our neighboring bourses are now trading mixed on moderate levels, meaning that gains or losses are not substantial and could be construed as in consolidation, except for the sizable drop in Sri Lanka.

Cement companies were today’s top gainers as Bacnotan Consolidated hit the 50% ceiling after declaring a P 9 special cash dividend which represents 36.36% of its closing price at P 24.75. The frenetic buying of Bacnotan spilled over Union Cement up 42.85% and Republic Cement higher 31.03%. Recent news reports that Bacnotan Consolidated and Phinma sold their combined 51% stake at Union Cement to Cemco Holdings for $214 million.