MANILA, Philippines ? (UPDATE) Local stocks advanced modestly on Tuesday to breach the 3,100 mark for the first time since mid -January, bucking the listless trading in Wall Street, even as investors turn more cautious now that the market is nearing recent highs.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 12.37 points or 0.4 percent to close at 3,107.35.
The composite index is not too far now from the year-high of 3,133 recorded on January 15 or before shockwaves from the fiscal woes of Greece hit local assets.
The market's gains were led by the holding firms and industrial sectors whose sub-indices outpaced the main-index with a respective increase of 1.4 percent and 1.18 percent.
Value turnover at the stock market reached P3.12 billion.
Despite the overall advance, there were more decliners (60) than advancers (53) while there were 62 unchanged stocks, indicating increasing caution now that the index is nearing this year's highs.
Among the most actively traded stocks were Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. but their share prices were unchanged. PLDT had been flattish this week ahead of this Friday's cash dvidend ex-dividend date or the record date when the investor must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive dividend.
On the other hand, the gainers included Aboitiz Power Corp., First Gen Corp., Universal Robina Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Energy Development Corp., SM Investments Corp., Manila Water Co. Inc. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.
US markets offered little leads as they ended mixed as the DOW and S&P 500 both faltered while the Nasdaq edged up.
"When news about the debt problems of Greece first came out, the world was concerned that its problems might create a domino effect. With the Eurozone ready to step in if needed, the chance that this problem gets out of hand is very slim," said AB Capital Securities analyst Prince Anthony Yeung.
With the index nearing its resistance, Yeung said the bias for the market was to move flat to lower in the coming days.
"The last eight times the main index has closed above 3,100, it has gone down the next day. This trend started towards the end of 2008 and has held ever since. The market is nearing oversold levels and other technical indicators point toward flat to lower movements. Our advice remains to take advantage of this opportunity to lock in profits," Yeung said.
As the market moves flat to lower in the coming days, he said trading might focus on blue chips while investors look for the next speculative stock that they can possibly take advantage of.
