Stocks close higher

SOURCE: PSE Website

Philippine stocks on Thursday ended a three-day sell-off as bargain hunters prevailed during a volatile trading session.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange, which lost as much as 2.45 percent in early trading, managed to recover lost ground and gained 51.12 points, or 0.78 percent, to close at 6,609.10.

Analysts have been expecting a technical bounce, after the market lost over 11 percent of its value on June 5 compared with the record May 15 closing. The correction was partly attributed to investors’ concerns that the US Federal Reserve may tighten monetary stimulus measures.

Joseph Roxas, president of stock brokerage firm Eagle Equities Inc., said the market could move higher, but he was not convinced that the domestic market has bottomed out.

“We cannot discount a test of the lows,” Roxas said.

Yesterday, the all-shares index also ended higher by 32.37 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,099.61. All subindices gained, led by holding firms.

A total of 2.48 billion shares changed hands, valued at P12.13 billion. Advancers led decliners marginally at 85 to 84, with 38 companies closing unchanged.

Electricity retailer Manila Electric Co., the session’s most actively traded stock, declined 1.3 percent to P380 a share.

This was followed by Metropolitan Bank and Trust ( +1.10 percent), SM Investments Corp. (+1.28 percent), Philippine Long  Distance Telephone Co. (1.04 percent) and Ayala Land Inc. (1.82 percent ).

Other actively traded stocks were Megaworld Corp. (-0.27 percent), SM Prime Holdings Inc. (-0.58 percent), Alliance Global Group Inc. (+5.05 percent ), Ayala Corp. (+1.07 percent) and BDO Unibank (-0.53 percent).  Miguel R. Camus