Window-dressing shores up share prices

The customary window-dressing seen at the end of each month helped in shoring up the local stock index toward the 6,200 mark Friday.

Closing up for the fourth straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 38.86 points, or 0.63 percent, to close at 6,208.82.

For the week, the index rose by a total of 123.98 points, or 2 percent, mostly attained Thursday on news that the Philippine economy had expanded by 7 percent in the third quarter.

“Traditional month-end window-dressing pushed the market to positive territory late in the session,” said Manny Cruz of Asiasec Equities.

But Cruz said the day’s rise was buoyed by selective issues.

“If you look at market breadth, there’s the same number of advancers and decliners (77),” he said. “We’re now at a crucial level because the index is now at the resistance level.”

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.18 billion. For most of the day, the market traded in the red. Just before closing, a buying binge took place, allowing the index to gain.

The PSEi was led higher by SM Prime, Metrobank, PLDT, ICTSI and BDO.  Doris C. Dumlao