MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Stock Exchange jacked up its first-semester net profits by 91 percent year-on-year to P148.3 million on higher listing and trading-related revenues coupled with lower operating expenses.

Based on its financial statement submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the PSE also reported that for the second quarter alone, net income grew by 33 percent to P65.79 million from a year ago.

"Higher listing and trading related revenues reflected investor optimism over an economic rebound. The optimism was further mirrored by the PSE index, which gained 31.4 percent during the first half," PSE president and chief executive officer Val Antonio B. Suarez said.

"Management continues to exercise cost-saving measures and seeks revenue opportunities to improve our bottomline," he added.

Six-month revenues expanded by 30 percent to P346.09 million from 2009. Listing-related income was higher by 54 percent mainly from listing fees.

During the first semester, Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. and IP E-Game Ventures Inc. listed by way of introduction, or without any public offering of shares. Leading oil refiner and retailer Petron Corp. also raised P10 billion via the listing of its preferred shares.

Operating expenses, on the other hand, were lower by 9.6 percent to P157.8 million during the period.