Stock index soars 4.6% (2 p.m.)
MANILA — Shares soared for the third day Friday as a cut in key US interest rates boosted investors’ appetite for bargain stocks.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 86.16 points, or 4.62 percent, at 1,951.09.
The index has advanced 14.47 percent in the last three days, regaining ground lost in the previous five session, in which it plummeted 15 percent.
“We are seeing that some renewed confidence is slowly appearing,” said Claire Quiray, an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Inc. “The public is watching with optimism the concerted effort of governments to address the crisis.”
The US Federal Reserve’s overnight move to slash its key interest rate by half a percentage point helped to lift sentiments, said trader Emmanuel Soller of EquitiWorld Securities Inc.
Top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. surged 2.8 percent at P1,995.
Bank of the Philippine Islands was up 2.5 percent at P40, and its owner Ayala Corp., the country’s largest conglomerate, jumped 3.5 percent at P233.
Ayala and its units BPI and Globe Telecom Inc. announced an agreement Friday to establish the Philippines’ first microfinance bank to extend loans and financial services using mobile technology.
Globe, the second largest telecommunications provider after PLDT, rose 4.6 percent at P905. (AP)
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