Philippine stocks buck Asian downtrend

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices managed to rise yesterday, bucking the regional downtrend brought about by renewed concerns over China’s economic health.

The main composite index climbed 43.70 points, or 0.64 percent, to settle at 6,859.29, while the broader All Shares index rose 12.41 points, or 0.31 percent, to 3,964.86.

Local shares went up even as the US and European Stocks tumbled overnight on the back of weak sentiment and outlook as a result of weak profits by industrial companies in China.

Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital said the bulls were able to recover during yesterday’s session.

“The Asian region was covered in blood red early in the day with only Taiwan shares eking out a thin advance. By the noon break, however, the PSEI had managed to move 20 points into positive territory – a fight back of the bulls, so to speak, suggesting the market could be approaching a trough. Otherwise, it could be just positioning ahead of month- and quarter-ending trades tomorrow (today), Wednesday,” Calaycay said.

He said the index tested support at the 6700 to 6720 range, with the upper limit attracting buyers to push the index more than 100 points off this trough.

“A fair level of value flows on the long side allowed the market to sustain the rally snapping a five-session,” Calaycay said.

Value turnover closed at P6.99 billion. Decliners edged out advancers, 109 to 72, while 32 stocks were left unchanged.