PH stocks on the rebound

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stocks on Thursday rebounded sharply, bringing the main index to its best finish for the year, as minutes of a key US Federal Reserve meeting boosted investors’ risk-taking.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index racked up 51.4 points, or 0.78 percent, to close at 6,638.89.

All counters were up, but the biggest gains were seen in the financial, holding firm and mining/oil counters.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.5 billion. There were 126 advancers against 57 decliners, while 34 stocks were unchanged.

The gains were led by Megaworld and AGI, which both rose by over 3 percent. MPI and BDO also rose by over 2 percent, as did SM prime, AC, JG Summit, Petron and BPI, which all gained by over 1 percent.

On the other hand, ALI, DMCI and ICTSI ended lower.

Regional markets were mostly higher as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting suggested that the US regulator would be more cautious in raising interest rates than the market expected.—Doris C. Dumlao