Shares rise as investors stock up ahead of long weekend

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices rose for a fourth day yesterday as investors shored up more stocks ahead of a long weekend, traders said.

The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained another 21.83 points (0.53 percent) to close at 4,113.69.

The broader all-shares index added 10.92 points or 0.38 percent to end at 2,916.78.

Advancers outnumbered decliners, 89 to 39, while 43 issues were unchanged.

A total of 2.02 billion shares changed hands valued at P4.27 billion.

“Window dressing became apparent as the year is also about to end,” said Ma. Arlysa Narciso of AB Capital Securities.

The main movers for the day were stocks held by Manuel V. Pangilinan: Metro Pacific (up 4.61), PLDT (up 1.03 percent) and Philex Mining (3.9 percent).

“As the year draws to a close, more buying up activity may be felt in the next days. Tomorrow however, is a long weekend. Investors might make a position in time for it,” Narciso said.

In other Asian stock markets, shares rose modestly yesterday after a $6.3-billion banking deal sent Wall St. to new two-year highs.

Trading was subdued ahead of Christmas holidays later this week, with most indexes fluctuating in a tight range.

“I think a holiday mood is there and I don’t expect market turnover will increase a lot,” said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average was up less than 0.1 percent at 10,374.26. Japanese financial markets will be closed Thursday for the emperor’s birthday, a national holiday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.6 percent to 23,143.15, South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.1 percent to 2,038.91, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1 percent at 4,776.80.

Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and Singapore also advanced, while the Shanghai Composite index fell slightly. - With AP