(UPDATE) Stocks enjoy last-minute rally with upbeat economic outlook

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The stock market managed to reverse earlier losses but failed to make a rally strong enough to make a positive closing.

By end of Thursday's session, the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost a mere 0.007 percent or 0.54 of a point to 7, 268.95, while the broader all-share index declined by 0.08 percent or 3.53 points to 4,271.18.

Decliners beat advancers 98 to 84 while 72 shares were unchanged.

Of the six counters, industrial, services, property managed to buck the trend.

Online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com attributed today's last minute rally to the upcoming announcement of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's delay in the planned increase of sales tax.

The index went down to 7,226 or 40 points lower from Wednesday' s close before picking up again.

Locally, it is reported that Philippine President Benigno Aquino III might use his power to plug energy gap in the summer of 2015.

This, 2TradeAsia.com said, may inspire confidence in the " uninterrupted humming of the local economy."

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those sold down were Ayala Corp., and BDO Unibank, Inc., while heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. managed to buck the trend.