Stocks hit a new record on Monday, with the Philippine Stock Exchange finishing 56.50 points higher to 8,367.38.

The previous mark was 8,344.o5 set on October 4.

But in the broader market, there were 104 decliners and 82 gainers while 59 shares were unchanged.

The All Shares Index closed higher at 4,909.92, up by 20.48 points or 0.42 percent. Four of six sectoral indices closed in the green with the holding firms sector posting the biggest gain of 1.27 percent.

Volume reached 1.67 billion shares valued at P6.1 billion. Foreign funds were net sellers, with P3.006 billion worth of stocks sold and P2.75 billion bought.

Most actively traded shares were led Ayala Corp., 0.93 percent to P1,039, Ayala Land, Inc., up 0.93 percent to P43.30 and SM Investment Corp. up 0.82 percent to P918.50.

In a television interview, Eagle Equities president Joey Roxas said: "It's really liquidity that is driving the local market right now."

He also said traders were watching the passage of tax reform bill in Congress in November as it will affect the market. "If tax reform bill fails to produce needed revenues, PSEi might trade sideways," he said.

The peso closed at P51.245 against the US dollar from Friday's P51.150. Volume at the Philippine Dealing System reached $657.80 million from $498.80 million. Ella Dionisio/DMS