Index mirrors recovery in reg’l markets

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine stock market started the week with a slight improvement despite investors continuing to be hesitant to accumulate stocks.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index rebounded 0.32 percent or 21.81 points to finish at 6,874.88, while the broader all shares index rose 0.33 percent or 13.62 points to 4,119.99.

“Any hopes that the market will ride the Dow Jones’ rising tide last Friday was tempered as investors still appeared unwilling to make commitments to equities,” Accord Capital Equities Corp. analyst Justino Calaycay Jr said.

Calaycay said the bellwether index edged marginally higher yesterday, mirroring the slight recovery in other Asian markets.

In contrast, US stocks posted a robust recovery led by technology issues. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.73 percent or 123.37 points to 17,100.18, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 1.03 percent or 20.10 to 1,978.22.

At home, most counters were in the green, paced by industrial firms that added 0.9 percent or 92.56 points to 10,386.55 but property firms dropped 0.17 percent or 4.38 points to 2,604.42.

Value turnover remained thin at P5.44 billion, slightly higher than the P5.26 billion on Friday. Advancers slightly outplayed decliners, 90 to 85, while 47 stocks did not change.

“The rally remains largely unsupported, however, as value turnover retreated below the averages,” Calaycay said.