MANILA, Philippines - Stocks climbed by two percent Monday, shrugging off the mixed trade on Wall Street, ahead of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s final State of the Nation Address.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 56.15 points to close at 2,732.62, partly driven by Manila Electric Co. shares, which posted a record high.

Meralco’s share price went up by another 9.76 percent to close at P225 after hitting an intra-day peak of P228 apiece—a record in itself.

Yesterday’s rally was led by the industrial, financial, property and holding firm counters, which went up by 3.5 percent, 2.7 percent, 2.6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

Shortly after yesterday’s trading had ceased, authorities ordered an evacuation of the Philippine Stock Exchange premises after receiving a bomb threat, the head of the exchange said.

Francis Lim, PSE president, said police and the bomb squad made a sweep of the building in Manila’s Ortigas business district but did not find any explosives.

“As a precaution, especially after the Jakarta bombings, we sent home our people at around 1:30 p.m.,” Lim said. “The latest report I got is, everything is clear.”

“There will be trading tomorrow,” he said.

Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at stock brokerage Campos, Lanuza & Co., said that, on occasions of State of the Nation Address, the stock market would usually be lifted. However, he said, yesterday’s rally could be largely due to Meralco’s stellar rise, as well as optimism from an unexpected sovereign credit rating upgrade by Moody’s Investor Service.

Moody’s, said to be the most pessimistic among the three major global credit watchers, upgraded by a notch its rating on Philippine government debt last week.

Astro del Castillo of First Grade Holdings said local investor sentiment was buoyed by the upbeat sentiment in the region. “There’s rising optimism not just on the regional macroeconomy but also on its corporates,” Del Castillo said.

He added that Meralco’s winning streak also contributed to the stock market’s advance.

Meralco accounted for about 4 percent of the P3.9 billion value turnover at the stock market, which had 78 advancers against 44 decliners while 53 stocks were unchanged.

Other stocks that gained on heavy volume yesterday were Energy Development Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Banco de Oro Unibank, Megaworld Corp., Ayala Corp. and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.