Phl stocks rise on encouraging news from US

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine stock market bounced back today, mirroring the performance of the Dow Jones industrial average index.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.49 percent or 32.11 points to 6,621.66, while the broader all-share index gained 0.33 percent or 12.95 points to 3,988.57.

Trading volume reached 4.05 billion shares worth P7.05 billion ($158.49 million) with 107 stocks advancing, 70 declining, and 44 were unchanged.

All six counters were up.

"The PSEi built on a strong opening surge of 18 points, pushing the measure back above the 6,600-line for only the third time this year. The pick-up wasn't sufficiently strong to wipe out apprehension by some investors as a good number of market-watchers opine last night's gains in the US could be temporary," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

The Dow Jones industrial average index jumped by 0.91 percent or 146.49 points and settled at 16,173.24 on Monday.

Calaycay however noted that value turnover remained light, indicating a general hesitation to make stronger commitments to stocks as the index hovers above 6,600 without further validation from the fundamental front.

"On some light, we expected investors to pick up shares over this shortened trading week, although there might be some resistance to keeping the index levels at 6,600," Calaycay said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These issues include heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., SM Prime Holdings, Inc., and SM Investments Corp.