Philippine stocks register gains on US rally

The Philippine stock market posted marginal gains on Tuesday as some investors were inspired to buy local stocks following the 88-point rise of the U.S. equities last Monday. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.13 percent or 8.11 points to 6,327.02, while the broader all-share index rose by 0.04 percent or 1.65 points to 3,876.21. Trading volume reached 807 million shares worth 4.46 billion pesos (102.27 million U.S. dollars) with 81 stocks declining, 57 advancing, and 46 unchanged. Of the six counters, only the holding firm and the services sectors lifted the composite index. The four other subindices ended lower. "Riding on an 88-point rise in the Dow Jones, local share prices jumped in the minutes off the gates but started to taper off soon enough," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. Tuesday's trading was marked by volatility with the composite index rallying by as much as 60 points and trading to as low as 6, 285.18. Calaycay said the local equities' performance on Tuesday as due to lack of fresh incentives resulting in disinterested investors as shown by the fact that the price surge was not accompanied by strong volumes. This, he said, makes the sustainability of the rally high doubtful and indicates investors' general choice to keep to the sidelines and hold cash. "So light were trades that total value turnover fell short of 4 billion pesos (91.61 million U.S. dollars) with no more than a billion shares dealt," he said. Calaycay nevertheless added that the local equities should try to establish a firm base around the 6,300 level as the country's earning season gets underway. This, he said, will hopefully provide some source of optimism for the market to fuel another rally. Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. SM Investments Corp., Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc., and Ayala Land, Inc. all went down.