Phl stocks take cue from Wall St

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine stocks posted modest gains yesterday, buoyed by Wall St.’s strong performance.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.33 percent or 22.98 points to finish at 6,892.92, while the broader all shares index rose 0.24 percent or 9.90 points to 4,125.69.

The local market mirrored the advances in Wall Street and most Asian markets that focused on corporate earnings.

On Tuesday, US stocks benefited from strong company earnings reports but the improvement was kept in check by the bears.

The Dow Jones Industrial average added 0.36 percent or 61.81 points to finish at 17,113.54, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.5 percent or 9.90 points to 1,983.53.

Locally, all counters, save for financial firms that retreated 0.35 percent or 5.80 points to end at 1,645.82, were in the green. The gainers were led by the industrial sector that climbed 1.49 percent or 155.29 points to 10,552.79.

However, the value of shares that changed hands thinned to P6.74 billion from P8.11 billion on Tuesday. Advancers barely outpaced decliners, 82 to 80, while 65 stocks did not change.

Most active stocks were in the positive territory, led by top-traded Universal Robina Corp. that rallied 4.75 percent as the trading suspension was lifted. Early this week, Gokongwei-led snacks and beverage giant announced its acquisition of Griffin’s Foods Ltd., New Zealand’s leading biscuit and snack food company, for NZ$700 million.