(UPDATE) Stocks rise marginally with hope for higher level

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The stock market extended its rally today but investors' apprehension of investing more money remains.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index added 0.33 percent or 23.07 points to 7,106.56, while the broader all-share index rose by 0.3 percent or 12.62 points to 4,208.82.

Trading volume reached 2.65 billion shares worth P9.68 billion ($221.86 million) with 106 stocks advancing, 74 declining, and 42 were unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the mining and oil sector bucked the trend.

"Investors are obviously wanting for more proof they can continue to stay confident on the buy side," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his dailys stock market comment.

This, he said, is evidenced by the relatively thinner value turnover and the market's inability to sustain trades after reaching an intra-day high of 7,120.77.

He added that investors' near-term concern is to lock in profits ahead of the release of the August inflation numbers.

"The first challenge for the PSEi these days is to stay above the 7,100-line and secondary to that, to test resistance at 7,200, " Calaycay said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These were SM Investments Corp., Ayala Corp., and SM Prime Holdings, Inc.