Philippine stocks slightly up on US market boom

The Philippine market reclaimed the 6,600 level on Thursday following a 181.04-point rise in the Dow Jones industrial average index the day before. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.78 percent or 51.40 points to 6,638.89, while the broader all-share index added 0.84 percent or 33.34 points to 3,992.65. Trading volume reached 1.34 billion shares worth 10.51 billion pesos (236.33 million U.S. dollars) with 126 stocks advancing, 57 declining, and 34 unchanged. All six counters were up. "Volume continues to be biased toward accumulation supporting the market's rise and magnifying the "buy-window" openings at declines," analyst Justino Calacay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. Investors got Thursday's optimism from the rally in the U.S. market as they hope that the policymakers might be more cautious about raising interest rates. As such, Calaycay said any downside in the local equities will be tempered as investors are likely to accumulate more shares given the positive developments overseas. Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These include SM Prime Holdings, Inc., Megaworld Corp. and SM Investments Corp.