PHILIPPINE stocks made a mild recovery Friday as investors welcomed the reduction in banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR).
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 31.41 points or 0.52 percent to 6,098.04.
The wider all shares index, on the other hand, slipped by 11.34 points or 0.31 percent to 3,660.28.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced it will reduce the RRR by 200 basis points (bps) for universal and commercial banks, 150 bps for digital banks and 100 bps for thrift banks.
This will bring the RRR of big banks to 5 percent from current 7 percent.
Analysts said the PSEi was boosted by bargain hunting of blue-chip companies.
Among the sectors only the financial index ended in red, declining by 0.31 percent.
Property gained the most, advancing by 1.53 percent despite continued concerns about oversupply of condominiums in Metro Manila.
Value turnover was thin at P3.97 billion.
Gainers edged out losers 102 to 91 while 44 names were unchanged.
Shares of food manufacturing giant Universal Robina Corp. jumped 5.3 percent to P74.45 per share.
On the other hand, shares of Bank of the Philippine Islands declined 1.31 percent to P128.10 each.