Stocks up on positive US performance

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine stock market opened the week positively following the three-digit gain of the US equities.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.32 percent or 21.81 points to 6,874.88, while the broader all-share index rose by 0.33 percent or 13.62 points to 4,119.99.

Trading volume reached 1.08 billion shares worth P5.44 billion ($124.78 million) with 90 stocks advancing, 85 declining, and 47 unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the financial and the property sectors extended their losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average index added 123 points on Friday, on optimism over corporate earnings and potential takeover as well as merger and acquisition prospects.

Investors, however, seem unwilling to make huge commitments to the local equities, analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

"The PSEi edged marginally higher at the opening but found little support to extend gains past the 10-point mark over the morning trades," Calaycay said.

Moreover, earnings results released by some of the companies have provided little encouragement. The bulk of earnings are expected to trickle in by next month.

"Meanwhile, investors will be facing a traditional lean period for trades. The Chinese ghost month is approaching and although there is no solid statistical evidence to this, sentiments overcome numbers," Calaycay said.

Lastly, the analyst said leads continue to be thin on the domestic front.

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