Thursday, September 07, 2006
Shares rise to nearly 4-month high on foreign buying (2:00 p.m.)
MANILA -- Philippine shares rose for the sixth straight session Thursday, with foreign demand driving the benchmark index to its best close in nearly four months.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 9.05 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,405.25, its highest finish since May 17, when it ended at 2,463.57. Thursday's advance brings the total index gain to 4.7 percent over six consecutive trading days.
Grace Cerdenia, head of operations of local brokerage house 2TradeAsia, said the sustained interest in the market stemmed from a positive economic outlook, the government's commitment to fiscal reforms, and the pump-priming agenda announced by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her annual address in July.
The recent gains made by the peso against the US dollar and declining crude prices as a result of receding geopolitical concerns also helped prop up market sentiment, she said.
Megaworld was the most actively traded, rising 3.5 percent to P1.80 on heavy volume of 141.4 million shares, as the stock recovered from a 2.2 percent loss during the past two sessions.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. rose 0.5 percent to P2,005, following the 0.9 percent gain made by the company's American depositary receipts in New York Wednesday.
Investors also focused on the Ayala group on account of a favorable earnings performance.
Ayala Corp. was up 1.6 percent at P477.50, while affiliate Bank of the Philippine Islands gained 3.6 percent to close at P57. Globe Telecom, an affiliate of Ayala Corp., rose 1 percent to P1,045.
Ayala Land, however, fell 3.5 percent to P13.75 on profit-taking, after rising 7.5 percent in recent sessions.(AP) |
