Philippine bourse recovers on strong corporate earnings

The Philippine stock market ended its losing streak on Wednesday despite negative developments abroad. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.43 percent, or 27.05 points, to 6,322.60, while the broader all-share index added 0.41 percent, or 15.73 points, to 3,818.26. Trading volume reached 2.91 billion shares worth 8.07 billion pesos (181.15 million U.S. dollars) with 80 stocks advancing, 82 declining, and 43 unchanged. Of the six counters, three bucked the trend. These were the services, mining and oil, and the property sectors. "A swath of bad news from the U.S. and Asia greeted investors before mid-week trades open," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. The Chinese yuan fell, dragged by a weakness in the Aussie dollar, while U.S. consumer confidence retreated and home prices advanced at a slower pace. Similarly, European shares slipped. "Local investors however managed to shrug off the negative vibes that visited neighboring bourses, with the main index rebounding off an early 34.27 points loss and cross onto positive territory and the 6,300-mark at the noon recess," Calaycay said. In fact, he said the pace of activity remained elevated with value turnover already at 39 percent and 47 percent of the five- day and 20-day moving averages. The analyst said corporate earnings will continue to remain the fuel that will drive prices up, especially among those which reported better-than-expected results. Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those sold down were SM Prime Holdings, Inc., heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., and Jollibee Foods Corp.