Index rises as market cheers Wall St gains

MANILA, Philippines - Wall St.’s trek to a fresh record high encouraged investors to accumulate local stocks yesterday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index recovered 0.61 percent or 41.47 points to close at 6,852.81, while the broader all shares index rose 0.74 percent or 30.35 points to 4,135.98.

“Investors cheered an overnight advance in the US equities pushing the index to its highest level in a year – with the intra-day high falling a few points short of the June 10, 2013 close at 6,875.60,” said Justino B. Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

“The emotional pendulum swung back to positive after the Dow hit a fresh record reflecting a resurgence of confidence on the world’s largest economy,” Calaycay said.

On Monday, Wall Street posted gains due to higher share prices of Internet and biotech companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.68 percent or 112.13 points to 16,695.47, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.97 percent or 18.17 points to end at 1,896.65, allowing both indices to close at record highs.

The market optimism rubbed off on Asian stocks, which ignored escalating tensions in Ukraine.

At home, all counters, save for financial firms that dropped 0.26 percent or 4.18 points to 1,613.53, were in the green. The advancers were led by mining and oil that rose 1.56 percent or 256.08 points to 16,659.40.

Investor participation increased as value turnover reached P9.7 billion from P8.02 billion on Monday. There were more than two gainers for every decliner, while 38 stocks did not change.

Most traded shares were in the positive territory, led by Puregold Price Club Inc. (+4.35 percent) and Ayala Land Inc. (+0.79 percent). But second most-traded PLDT (-0.28 percent) and Alliance Global Group Inc. (-1.97 percent) closed lower yesterday.