Index up anew on sustained buying

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices went up anew yesterday as investors continued to look for bargain stocks, analysts said.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by another 17.60 points to settle at 7,653.22, while the All Shares index gained 11.03 points to 4,369.53.

Analysts said market conditions would likely continue to improve, barring another major surprise from Europe.

 “Investors go into the closing trades for week 29 with a slightly bullish undertone. In the last two sessions, the bulls have proven to be tough to pull down. In both instances, the market opened weak but managed to pull higher as the day progressed eventually closing in positive territory. This suggests that bargain hunters are just being patient in their pricing,”  said Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital.

Calaycay said much depends on the outlook for corporate earnings which we will likely mark an improvement quarter-on-quarter  and equally important the reading for the broad economy for the same period.

Market breadth was positive, with advancers edging out decliners, 95 to 76, and 45 issues unchanged. Value turnover reached P7.32 billion, as 3.33 billion shares changed hands.

Counters were mixed, with the property sector dropping 0.45 percent, followed by the holding firms’ 0.05 percent retreat. The mining and oil led gainers, adding 1.6 percent.