Wall Street perks up PH stocks

Local stocks firmed up Thursday as good news from Wall Street prevailed over the havoc wreaked by Typhoon Glenda over Luzon in the past two days.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 33.32 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 6,867.36, despite the onslaught of the typhoon that left at least 40 people dead.

All counters ended in positive territory, led by the mining/oil counter, which went up by 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.69 billion. There were 88 advancers against 81 decliners, while 50 stocks were unchanged.

Ayala Corp., BPI, URC and Metrobank led the PSEi gainers with over 1 percent. Investors also snapped up shares of BDO, PLDT, AGI, ALI, GTCAP and SM Prime.

One notable gainer outside of PSEi stocks was Nickel Asia (+3.24 percent).

FGEN fell by 1.2 percent on news that its 1,000-megawatt Sta. Rita and 500-megawatt San Lorenz power plants in Batangas had shut down due to flooding brought by the typhoon.

Globe and LTG were likewise down by over 1 percent.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Index closed at a new record high of 17,138.20, rising by 77.52 points overnight.  Doris C. Dumlao