Stocks end up on positive corporate earnings

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The stock market ended today's gains positively as investors beef up their portfolio on selected stocks.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.72 percent or 52.20 points to 7,327.58. The broader all-share index gained 0.38 percent or 16.90 points to 4,506.74.

Trading volume reached 1.27 billion shares worth P9.72 billion ($236.26 million) with 100 stocks declining, 70 advancing, and 49 unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the services and the mining and oil sectors bucked the trend.

"The temporary setbacks that the market encounters from time to time has consistently provided investors with an opportunity to move to the buy side of the market," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said.

The analyst said the incentive to buy the stocks is supported by the strong domestic economy and the improved corporate earnings of local firms. Fixed income instruments also remain unattractive in terms of return on investments.

"With both the 6,800 and the 7,200 projected year-end index levels breached, we can now look forward to the 7,500 fighting target," Calaycay said.

The analyst however added that investors are being selective with what issues to buy ahead of the release of economic numbers this week.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those that rallied were Ayala Land, Inc., SM Investments Corp., and Ayala Corp.