PSE index reaches new record on consumer driven stocks

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange rose on continued foreign buying in the financials, industrial, property, and services subsectors of the market, bringing the main index to another record close. The PSE index advanced by 34.45 points or 0.84 percent to close at 4,087.96. More than 5.397 billion shares valued at P7.931 billion changed hands during the two-and-a-half hour session. Gainers led decliners 85 to 73, with 25 issues unchanged. There was again a technical glitch in the trading system, which smothered the strong opening and spurred some intraday profit taking among local investors, said an analyst at CitisecOnline.com. The local hands are still wary at this point and foreign buying is obviously driving the market, he said. The CitisecOnline analyst said that foreign funds are buying into the basic industries - financials, industrial, property, and services – as the Philippine market is considered a "consumer play." Foreign fund managers are now avoiding export-led economies, like China and Hong Kong, because of the shaky road to global recovery, the analyst said. "That’s why they are into the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, because these economies have strong GDPs [gross domestic product] driven by consumer spending and are not reliant on external forces," he added. —VS, GMANews.TV