Positive offshore leads buoy Phl stocks

MANILA, Philippines - Positive developments from overseas buoyed the local stock market for the second straight session yesterday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed 0.46 percent or 31.03 points to end at 6,761.99, while the broader all shares index rose 0.38 percent or 15.42 points to 4,057.43.

“Higher China purchasing managers’ index, record levels in US stocks and a six-month high in the Nikkei trumped rising crude prices,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

Manufacturing performance of the world’s second largest economy improved this month, beating analysts’ estimates.

However, Calaycay said the main index hit a strong resistance at the 6,770 level as optimism is tempered by tensions in Iraq, lower-than-estimated first quarter economic growth and relatively weak corporate earnings.

On Friday, Wall Street posted another uptick due to an across-the-board advance of listed firms. The Dow Jones industrial average inched up 0.15 percent or 25.62 points to 16,947.08, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.17 percent or 3.39 points to 1,962.87, both record highs.

Locally, most counters gained yesterday, led by property firms that added 1.16 percent or 29.91 points to close at 2,617.40. But the service sector dropped 0.17 percent or 3.46 points to 1,994.86.

Value turnover declined to P6.22 billion from P18.8 billion on Friday. Advancers outpaced decliners, 101 to 87, while 35 stocks did not change.