Stocks recover lost ground

The local stock market on Thursday recovered from an eight-day slump as investors across the Asia Pacific took heart from the US Federal Reserve’s vow to maintain its easy monetary policy.

After pulling back by 6.5 percent since hitting record levels earlier this month, the Philippine Stock Exchange index clawed back 53.36 points, or 0.83 percent, to close at 6,472.98.

Fund managers said the decline seen in the last eight days was a good opportunity, allowing investors to reenter the market after locking in gains from recent highs.

All counters bounced back. The highest gainers were the services (+2.31 percent) and mining/oil (+1.93 percent) counters.

Value turnover amounted to P9.5 billion. There were twice as many advancers (103) for every decliner (50).

Semirara Mining stood out during Thursday’s trading session (+7.09 percent) on reports that its coal mine may resume operations by April.

Investors also picked up shares of Belle, PLDT, Philex, ICTSI, Megaworld, BPI, Petron, AEV and EDC.  Doris C. Dumlao