Philippine stocks break 6,700 level, Aquino's SONA boosts sentiment

The Philippine stock market breached the 6,700-point mark Tuesday as President Benigno Aquino III's recent State of the Nation Address buoyed up investors sentiment. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 1.75 percent or 115.85 points to 6,743.21. The broader all-share index gained 1.66 percent or 67.04 points to 4,096.48. Trading volume reached 1.37 billion shares worth 8.72 billion pesos (202.04 million U.S. dollars) with 114 stocks advancing, 46 declining, and 39 unchanged. All six counters were up. "The State of the Nations Address (SONA) news cycle will continue through the rest of the week with all stakeholders breaking it down to its components," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. Calaycay said Philippine shares rallied on back of the bullish economic prospects discussed by Aquino in SONA. In a speech delivered at Monday's opening of the 16th Congress, Aquino stressed on how the Philippines has been tagged as "a rising tiger" by the World Bank and "the brightest spark" by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He talked about the country's stunning growth, the stable inflation rate and its attainment of investment-grade status from two respected credit rating agencies. Analysts added that the gains in Asian stocks also supported the Philippine bourse. Asian markets were covered in a swath of green as futures indexes in Europe and the United States suggest a better showing later in the day. Dow Jones industrial average index finished Monday's session flat, or up by a mere 1.81 points. "U.S. stocks were weighed down by weak home sales numbers, mixed earnings and a fresh survey showing economists anticipating a cut in the US Federal Reserve's bond purchasing program by September," Calaycay said. Following Tuesday's rally, Calaycay said the index should try to test the 6,900 mark as the earnings cycle for the second quarter and the first half performance of the companies start to kick in. "The composite index should test the 6,900 mark over the period given the sustained promising outlook for the overall economy," he said. Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These issues include heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Ayala Land, Inc., and Ayala Corp.