PH stock market surges over good news from Greece

MANILA, Philippines – Local stock prices surged on Friday as investors cheered a prospective resolution of the Greek fiscal crisis.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped by 50.30 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 4,291.44 on news that Greece had agreed to the five-year austerity plan that the European Union set as a condition for a bailout package.

All counters were up but the mining/oil counter, which surged by 3.4 percent, out-performed them all led by Philex, Manila Mining “A” (open only to local investors) and Lepanto “A.” The property and services sectors were likewise up by 1.1 percent.

The index was on an uptrend throughout the session, encountering resistance only as it neared 4,300.

Turnover amounted to P4.69 billion. There were 85 advancers that overwhelmed 44 decliners while 40 stocks were unchanged.

Aside from mining stocks, the stocks that gained on heavy volume were DMCI, Cebu Air, Aboitiz Power, Anglo Philippine Holdings, Ayala Land, Meralco, PLDT, Banco de Oro, EDC and ICTSI.

On the other hand, Metrobank, SM Investments, Globe Telecom, Jollibee, Metro Pacific Investments and SM Prime Holdings traded in the red, thereby curbing the PSEi’s gains.

Dealers said investors were emboldened by the favorable development in Greece. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Index was down by 59.76 points or 0.49 percent losses had gone down from as much as 240 points in intra-day trading after the news on Greece came out.

Trading on Atlas Mining, which had risen sharply and in heavy volume in the past two days, was suspended Friday following an announcement that it was taking full control of Carmen Copper Mining. The company had also mandated BDO Capital and Evercore to arrange a $368 million fund-raising in a mix of debt and capital issue.

With the suspension of Atlas, some investors shifted to affiliate Anglo Philippine as a proxy to the mining play on Atlas, which was long being rumored to be a takeover target by new investors including First Pacific-led Philex Mining.