PH stock market ends volatile 2013 with a marginal gain

PH stock market ends volatile 2013 with a marginal gain

MANILA – The Philippine composite index squeezed out a slim gain for 2013, surviving a turbulent year that allowed the stock market to extend its rally for the fifth straight year.

At the Philippine Stock Exchange, the benchmark index closed 2013 with a gain of 1.33 percent after the local barometer inched up 11.51 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 5,889.83 on Friday.

The service sector advanced 0.75 percent to lead the market higher.

Advancers edged out decliners, 91 to 70, while 48 issues were unchanged. Value turnover improved to P6.39 billion as 2.14 billion stocks changed hands.

Most actively traded stocks were Universal Robina, Ayala Land, PLDT, Metrobank and BDO. Top gainers were Synergy Grid, Berjaya Philippines and ATN A, while the biggest losers were Leisure and Resorts warrants and preferred shares, and Island Information.

"2013 has been a banner year for the Exchange not just in terms of products and services that have been rolled out, but the market response to a lot of our initiatives and third-party views on what is happening in the Philippines," PSE president and chief executive Hans B. Sicat told reporters on the sidelines of the bourse's 10th listing anniversary.

The Philippine stock market remained in net foreign buying territory of P15 billion as of yesterday, but significantly lower than the P109-billion tally in the same period a year ago.

Foreign buying rose 55 percent to P1.31 trillion as of yesterday from P1.29 trillion in the same period last year, Sicat said.

"On net foreign selling, as a lot of funds left during the last quarter, that number was 75 percent higher than what was the nominal last year. It's not too different when you see the behavior of funds when they were leaving emerging markets like the Philippines to go back to developed markets like the United States, Japan and the euro zone, but we're still in net foreign buying position," Sicat said.

The PSEi index rallied over 27 percent when it peaked at 7,392.20 on May 15, but saw its gains vanish on concerns that the US Federal Reserve will curtail its bond-buying program, a key driver of financial market rallies worldwide.

The share of trades of foreign and local investors were nearly equally split with daily trading value improving by 45 percent to P10.5 billion as of yesterday.

Capital raising at the local bourse reached P175 billion, a fifth lower than the record P219 billion registered last year from initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and private placements.

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