PH stock market perks up

A general shot of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Makati. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock market closed above 6,500 in thin trading on Friday as investors across the region were heartened by encouraging  statements from the European Central Bank about key rates.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 36.22 points or 0.56 percent to close at 6,500.48.  For the week, the index was up by a modest 0.5 percent.

Trading was mixed on Friday, with the industrial and holding firm counters leading the upswing while the property counter eked out modest gains.  On the other hand, the financial, services and mining/oil counters closed lower.

Turnover was thin at P5.2 billion. There were 86 advancers against 64 decliners.

Across the region, stocks markets were mostly higher as investors took heart from the ECB’s assurance that it would keep key rates at “present or lower levels for an extended period of time,” a dovish remark in contrast to the US Federal Reserve’s signal to soon taper its quantitative easing.

The day’s biggest index gainers were EDC (+7.83 percent) and MWC (+3.58 percent). Globe, RLC, DMCI and Philex were all up by over 2 percent while AEV, Petron, FGEN and ICTSI gained by over 1 percent.

On the other hand, the PSEi laggers for the day were PLDT (-1.18 percent), URC (-0.76 percent) and ALI (-0.5 percent).  Shares of Metrobank, Bloomberry, BDO, BPI and SM Prime also declined.