Philippine bourse breaches 6,200 level on positive news

The Philippine stock market breached the 6,200 level on Tuesday as local companies continue to report positive results. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index inched higher by another 0.42 percent or 26.15 points to 6,193.97, while the broader all-share index climbed by 0.28 percent or 10.60 points to 3,744.21. Trading volume reached 2.60 billion shares worth 5.97 billion pesos (133.88 million U.S. dollars) with 89 stocks advancing, 73 declining and 33 remaining unchanged. Of the six counters, only the service sector bucked the trend. "The momentum of the advance over the last eight out of the nine sessions remained intact with earnings providing the motive force to prop the market to a third consecutive day of advance," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. The analyst said this was bolstered by the fact that U.S. stocks took a break on Monday as they celebrate the President's Day. "Investors have found reasons to cheer in the latest news cycle -- Janet Yellen's statement on the U.S. economy as being on track to full recovery but the numbers are still not strong enough," Calaycay said. Calaycay said investors found firmer footing after the gross domestic product output came out stronger than expected in the fourth quarter even after the country was hit by supertyphoon Haiyan. "The local economy's number is being validated by individual firms' reported earnings for the same period," Calaycay said. Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those that picked up were Ayala Corp., Ayala Land, Inc., and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.