Share prices close higher

The local stock index firmed up on Monday, bucking mostly sluggish regional markets, as investors continued to position themselves for the year ahead.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 37.88 points, or 0.64 percent, to close at 5,985.81.

All counters were up. But the biggest gain was posted by mining/oil (+1.04 percent) on follow-through buying from Friday, when this counter surged by over 5 percent. Dealers attributed the rebound to the buying of oversold issues alongside an increase in copper prices.

Although this is the first full week of post-holiday trading, market volume was still thin, with turnover amounting to only P4.92 billion. On average, about P10.52 billion worth of shares changed hands on a daily basis at the stock market in 2013.

There were 97 advancers against 59 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged.

The large-cap stocks that benefited the most from the day’s upswing were BDO (+1.92 percent), Metrobank (+2.07 percent), Megaworld (+3.02 percent) and JG Summit (+1.67 percent) and EDC (+2.13 percent).

On the other hand, SM Prime and ICTSI declined by over 1 percent.

Elsewhere in the region, most markets were lower due to a decline in a key manufacturing indicator in China, which measured new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment.

Credit Agricole CIB said Asian currencies likewise reacted negatively to the report due to their reliance on China for export revenue and economic growth.

At the local foreign exchange market, the peso depreciated to 44.70 against the US dollar from Friday’s finish of 44.65:$1.  Doris C. Dumlao