Firms’ good earnings lift bourse
THE stock market surged on Wednesday on the back of positive corporate earnings as it expects Thursday’s release of second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data to show continued growth.
The bellweather Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 1.63 percent, or 125.61 points, to finish at 7,851.46, while the wider All Shares climbed by 1.58 percent, or 73.02 points, to close at 4,708.61.
According to Eagle Equities Inc. research head Chris Mangun, the increased profit of several listed companies, including Megaworld Corp., Globe Telecom, and Bloomberry Resorts Corp., in the first half of 2018 buoyed market sentiment.
Megaworld’s net income grew by 12 percent to P7.51 billion in January to June and its shares increased by 16 centavos to P4.81 apiece. Globe’s rose by 21 percent to P9.8 billion and shares jumped by P161.00 to P2,042 each. Bloomberry’s soared by 29 percent to P5.3 billion, but shares plunged 8 centavos to P10.10 apiece.
Jervin de Celis, trader at Timson Securities Inc., pointed gains to property developers SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH) and Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) after posting a strong first-half performance.
“Our index was lifted by index heavyweights, such as SMPH and ALI, after they reported double-digit growth for the first half of the year,” de Celis said, noting that the latter was “planning to offer bonds before yearend to finance its capital expenditures.”
SMPH reported on Monday that its net profit in the period jumped by 16 percent to P16.62 billion on the back of its expansion program, while ALI said its income increased by 18 percent to P13.5 billion.
The Ayala-led developer also said it was likely to raise at least P5 billion in the second half through the issuance of fixed-rate notes.
SMPH and ALI shares added P1.10 and 65 centavos to end at P39.00 and P42.65 each, respectively.
“We can also assume that investors are anticipating the release of second-quarter GDP reports [on Thursday], which according to consensus, may hit 6.8 percent,” de Celis said.
“Since first-quarter [growth]has been revised from 6.8 percent to 6.6 percent, if the consensus is correct, our economic performance would be faster than the first quarter,” he added.
All indices recorded gains, led by services with 3.19 percent.
Over 1.2 billion issues valued at P8.6 billion changed hands.
Advancers led decliners, 116 to 75, while 52 issues were unchanged.
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