Follow through buying pulls up bourse

    MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Follow through buying pulled up the stock market today.

The composite index Philippines Stock Exchange index rose by 0. 35 percent or 35. 06 points to close Friday's session at 6, 742.97, while the broader all share index added by 0. 44 percent or 17.84 points to close session at 4, 068.96.

Trading volume reached 1.63 billion shares worth P6.5 billion. Advancers beat decliners 112 to 64 while 37 stocks were unchanged.

All six counters were up led by the mining and oil sector.

"Corporate earnings over the first quarter which are due out in the days and weeks ahead should provide sufficient impetus to boost the measure further north," Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. in his daily stock market comment said.

The local stock market made a turnaround last Wednesday after falling successively during the past sessions.

Calaycay said, despite a recent visit by the bears, Philippine shares are poised to post its fourth straight monthly gains this year.

He said, "the PSEI tested the 6,700-resistance in Wednesday's trades, consistent with our expectations as momentum from the previous day's rebound off a four-session slide spilled over."

The analyst warned that the real emerging concern globally however is the Chinese economy. A report on manufacturing activity for April is projected to suggest another pick-up even as Japan's industrial and South Korea's factory outputs missed forecast.

Stocks in the 30 company index were mostly up. Among the mostly actively traded issues were SM Investment Corp., Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., and Ayala Land, Inc.