Philippine bourse closes higher with uptrend of oil prices overseas

The Philippine stock market opened the week higher as a result of improvement in oil prices.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.63 percent or 48 points to 7,677.73, while the broader all-share index added 0.58 percent or 26.24 points to 4,559.48.

Trading volume reached 1.81 billion shares worth 4.87 billion Philippine pesos (100.45 million U.S. dollars) with 93 stocks advancing, 88 declining, and 50 unchanged.

All six counters were up, led by the mining and oil sector.

"Latest gain in oil prices could also help boost investors' sentiment today, which in turn could aid them to look for stocks that have been beaten down by Friday's slump," online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in its daily stock market comment.

Oil prices remain stable above 50 U.S. dollars a barrel on Monday, ahead of a planned production cut by exporter club Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Brent crude prices was up by 6 cents to 50.25 U.S. dollars per barrel.

"It looks like the worst is through for the market," analyst Justino Calaycay of A&A Securities, Inc. said in his daily stock market comment.

The analyst said while Monday's performance is not an indication that it will all be rosy from this point on, investors can probably assert that the local equities have reached or is at least near a bottom.

"That is, unless another controversy erupts and rattles the nerves of investors," he said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These include Ayala Corp., SM Investments Corp., and Globe Telecom, Inc.

Source : XINHUA