Thursday, April 06, 2006
Stocks rise 1 percent on hopes for post-Easter rally (3:00 p.m.)
MANILA - Philippine stocks rose Thursday, shaking off listless trading over the past week, as investors accumulated select stocks on hopes for a rally following the Easter break, traders said.
"What we're having here is investors taking positions knowing that the market will go up after Holy Week," said PCCI Securities President Francisco Liboro.
Financial markets will be closed April 13 and 14 for the holiday.
The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index ended up 22.47 points, or 1 percent, at 2,220.37.
The most active stock, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., rose 2.1 percent to P1,975 on 148,980 shares traded. The company's American Depositary Receipts rose 0.4 percent in New York Wednesday.
"It looks like PLDT is on its way to hitting the P2,000 level soon and thereafter consolidate," said DA Market Securities President Nestor Aguila.
Megaworld added 1.3 percent to P1.56 ahead of the pricing Thursday of the Philippine property concern's follow-on stock offering. In line with its stock offer, Megaworld will be suspended for two weeks starting Friday, when the company said it would announce the price.
Recent laggards also took center stage, with Security Bank jumping 5.5 percent to P48 and Universal Robina climbing 4.2 percent to P18.75.
On the downside, Philex Mining's A shares fell 1.7 percent to 2.90 and its B shares gave up 3.3 percent to P2.90.
Gainers led decliners 62 to 33, while 56 stocks were unchanged.
Trade was boosted by a block sale of 1.02 billion shares of Keppel Marine at P1 each.(AP) |
