By Leslie D. Venzon
MANILA, July 14 (PNA) — Philippine equities extended the upward momentum along with other Asian markets on Tuesday after Greece and its European creditors agreed on a bailout deal.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) advanced 42.43 points to 7,538.76 from Monday’s 7,496.33 close.
“The locals are obviously paying a lot of attention to the developments in Greece,” said Jun Calaycay, analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.
Romel Libo-on, analyst at Security Bank Equities, said in an interview that market investors also cheered positive projections of the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) that gaming revenues would reach $ 3 billion this year.
Share prices of gaming companies Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and Melco Crown (Philippines) surged 8.8 percent and 7.97 percent, and among the PSE’s biggest stock gainers.
Moreover, Libo-on said the local oil sector is expected to benefit when Iran will be able to sell more oil in the market amid any easing of the sanctions.
“That’s a lot of oil we could sell to the market, oil prices will go down,” he added.
Almost all counters were in the positive territory, except property sector that declined slightly.
A total of 4.61 billion shares changed hands at the exchange valued at Php5.73 billion.
Advancers swamped decliners, 134 to 40, while 39 issues were unchanged.
The day’s top active stocks were led by Globe Telecom Inc., BDO Unibank Inc., Universal Robina Corp., Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company. (PNA)