Bargain-hunting in index shares pushes PSEi higher

A round of bargain-hunting pushed the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) higher in active trading Thursday after the market dropped to oversold condition in the last two weeks. “Some of the prices are tempting at this point that bargain hunters were buying the heavyweights," said Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc. “The market has rallied because of the oversold conditions as the index had already dropped about 400 points from its peak," said Harry Liu, president of Summit Securities Inc. The PSEi gained 51.31 points or 1.26 percent to close at 4,120.62. More than 1.38 billion shares valued at P5.34 billion changed hands during the session. Decliners led advancers 65 to 62, with 49 issues unchanged. The numbers of winners and losers, which go against the picture painted by the PSEi, showed that, “In, general, the breadth of the market is still in negative territory," said trader Jasper Jimenez of BDO Securities Inc. “The heavyweights that are part of the index were most of the gainers, but there are still a lot of profit-taking in other issues," Jimenez added. — VS, GMANews.TV