PSEi rises to new high on corporate earnings

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained a new high Thursday as investors rode on the momentum of the current earnings season, traders and analysts said. Index stocks across the board as well as blue chips and second-tier issues registered gains, said Ivan Nario, a trader with BDO Securities Inc. "I think there is some profit-taking going on in overbought issues and investors are shifting to other stocks." The PSEi rose 25.45 points or 0.72 percent to close at 3,560.39. The main index broke its recent high of 3,539.29, an intraday high on August 11, Nario said. "It looks like we are headed for the next resistance level at 3,700," he said. Over 1.359 billion shares valued at P5.147 billion changed hands in Thursday’s session. There is a very positive, bullish sentiment in the market, which "seems to be taking the past of less resistance on the way up," said Martin Santos, an analyst with First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. Still, traders said the profit taking in overbought shares were more noticeable Thursday that the market might go through a correction phase. —VS, GMANews.TV.