Positive developments in China, US lift Phl bourse

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine stock market bounced back today following positive developments in the United States and China.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 1.01 percent, or 68.20 points, to 6,830.52, while the broader all-share index rose by 0.81 percent, or 32.78 points, to 4,073.72.

Trading volume reached 876.36 million shares worth P8.86 billion with 106 stocks advancing, 68 declining, and 41 remaining unchanged.

All six counters were up.

"US Federal Reserve's minutes showing the body is deep in discussions on the eventual exit strategy and normalization of policy and a number of earnings that either topped estimates or showed narrower contractions boosted US stocks," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

This development spilled over in Asia with the regional benchmark seen to snap its longest losing streak since January.

"Providing enough lift to reverse the widespread pessimism of the previous day were the Fed minutes and, surprisingly, China," Calaycay said.

The minutes of its April meeting released on Wednesday showed that the US Federal Reserve took cognizance of the growth of the US economy and the marked improvement in the US job market.

In that meeting, another $10 billion was pared off the monthly bond-purchase fund, bringing the total cuts to $40 billion and the fund to only $45 billion.

Meanwhile, China's flash purchase manufacturing index for May reached a five-month high at 49.7 which managed to beat the consensus estimate for a 48.1 reading.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These include heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Ayala Corp., and SM Investments Corp.