MANILA, March 26 (PNA) — Local equities rebounded slightly on Wednesday after Fitch Ratings affirmed the investment grade rating on the Philippines.
The barometer Philippine stock exchange index (PSEi) gained 12.16 points to 6,348.50 from previous day’s 6,336.34 finish.
Brokerage firm 2tradeasia.com said the market got a lift from debt watcher Fitch’s reaffirmation of the country’s investment grade status.
It upheld Philippine long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at BBB- and BBB with a stable outlook, taking into account its strong economic growth, underpinned by a steady inflow of overseas Filipinos’ remittances and stable banking sector.
2tradeasia.com said other investors also seized the latest weakness to gradually position, especially listed shares that would embark on realizable plans.
”After days of being lower by concerns over a slowing Chinese economy, the crisis in Ukraine and mixed U.S. (United States) data, investors turned to the same issues and found optimism sending market indexes on both sides of the Atlantic to a sharp, more than one-percent rebound,” said Jun Calaycay, an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.
Almost all counters rose 0.05 percent to 0.60 percent.
The sub-indices of industrial and financials fell slightly.
Volume of transactions reached 1.16 billion shares worth P7.50 billion.
Advancers led decliners, 78 to 71, while 54 issues were unchanged.
The day’s top gainers were led by Cyber Bay Corp., Prime Orion Philippines Inc., Nextstage Inc., Sun Life Financial Inc. and Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp. (PNA)