Business

PHStocks Week in Review: Strong Beginning

Manila—(PHStocks)—Philippine stocks ended the week and greeted the first trading day of February on a strong note, reaching another record high and cementing their level above 6,300. The mainboard Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went up by 2.45% to 6,318.61 week-on-week, on the back of the country’s strong economic performance in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The market performance was particular stellar this week, in that the PSEi was only at 6,192 on Monday, slightly up by 0.4% from the previous week’s close. PSEi breached 6,200 on Tuesday, closing at 6,234.73, and sustained its growth on Wednesday, posting a 0.59% increase from the previous day to 6,271.23.

Profit taking ensued on Thursday, but the optimism on the country’s economic outlook prevailed as stocks recovered on Friday.

Perhaps what added to this confidence in the market are comments from Dr. Nouriel Roubini – yes, the one who prophesied the collapse of the U.S. housing market – when he went to the country last week to speak at First Metro Investment Corp.’s (FMIC) Philippine Investment Summit. In his Twitter account, @Nouriel, he wrote: “The Philippines should get an upgrade to investment grade in 2013 as it(sic) economic, fiscal, financial & policy fundamentals are much improved.”

On a sectoral basis, all counters were on the green from last week, led by the Property index, which surged by 6.56%. The Industrials segment meanwhile achieved a 4.01% growth, while the Holding Firms sector gained 2.04%.

Below are the top 30 gainers for this week:

The following, meanwhile, are the top decliners:

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