By Leslie D. Venzon
MANILA, Jan. 23 (PNA) — Philippine share prices stretched its winning streak to a seventh straight session on Thursday, as investors bet on the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) advanced 30.19 points to 6,170.05 from previous day’s 6,139.86 close.
”Investors realigned portfolio at the start of the year, and more are now recognizing that fundamental stories are intact,” said Nisha Alicer, head analyst at DA Market Securities Inc.
Alicer said PSEi has gained more momentum after breaking above the 6,000-mark since five sessions ago, ahead of the projected rosy earnings reports for full year 2013 which are expected to be released late January to early February.
”The Philippines continues to be a strong growth story in the region as evidenced by growth outlook by the World Bank (and) Moody’s positive outlook on our banks, a backbone sector of the economy,” she noted.
Almost all sectors were in the positive territory, led by the 1.54-percent surge in financials sector.
The services sector fell moderately.
Volume of transaction was thin at 2.63 billion shares valued at P7.2 billion.
Advancers dominated decliners, 87 to 70, while 45 stocks were unchanged.
The day’s top gainers were led by Megaworld Corp., Filipino Fund Inc., iRipple Inc., Seafront Resources Corp. and Medco Holdings Inc. (PNA)