The local stock market was mixed but managed to close higher on late buying of blue chips.
The main index rose 64.4 points or 0.89 percent to close at 7,297.66 with the advance led by the Holding Firms counter while the Industrial and Mining and Oil sectors retreated.

Volume was high at 3.08 billion shares worth P14.47 billion due to the listing of Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. as losers edged out gainers 92 to 89 with 47 unchanged.
“The PSEi regained traction ahead of its peers in line with the FTSE rebalancing and on the news that the detected omicron cases have been isolated,” said Regina Capital Development Corporation Managing Director Luis Limlingan.
He added that “Moreover, the DOH reporting no additional omicron in the country is another market pushing factor.” AB Capital Securities said the index jumped on market-on-close buying, with index heavyweights SM and SMPH leading the way.
“Last minute buying sent the local market higher. For the most part of the day however, the local bourse was in the negative territory, weighed by the pessimistic spillovers from Wall Street,” said Philstocks Fin Se Supervisor for Research Japhet Tantiangco.