PH stock index rises to 5,878.32, mostly on window-dressing

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer crept higher for the third straight session in thin post-Christmas trade, aided by yearend window-dressing.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange added 23.44 points or 0.4 percent to close at 5,878.32, tracking mostly higher regional markets.

The day’s rise was led by gains on the mining/oil and property counters.

But value turnover was scant at P3.46 billion as many trading participants are on extended holiday break.  After this week’s three-day trading, there will only be two trading days next week.

There were 76 advancers which edged out 68 decliners at the local market while 45 stocks were unchanged.

Dealers said the bias was on the upside for the last trading days of 2013.  The last day of trading for the year is on Friday.

The day’s biggest PSEi gainer was SMC (+2.46 percent).  On Thursday, the PSE announced that its board had approved the listing by way of introduction of SMC’s controlling stockholder Top Frontier at a listing price of P178 per share.

Likewise contributing to the day’s PSEi gains were URC, ALI, JGS, Megaworld, SM Prime, Jollibee, Bloomberry, FGEN and BPI which all rose by over 1 percent each.