Philippine stock index back to 4,300

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stocks rose in thin trade on Monday, bringing the main index back to 4,300, as investors awaited fresh measures from Greece to avoid a sovereign debt default.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 17.82 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,307.99 albeit trading was anemic with value turnover reaching only P3.1 billion.

The PSEi’s gains were led by the financial, industrial, holding firm and services counters, which offset the weakness in property and mining/oil.

There were 71 advancers that edged out 65 decliners while 41 stocks were unchanged. Investors were attracted to some bargains especially given the strong recovery in Wall Street sentiment last week. The overall mood on Monday’s trading was still cautious, however, as the uncertainties in Western markets resulted in anemic trading volume.

The day’s gains were led by PLDT, SM Prime, Aboitiz Power, EDC, ALI, URC, SMC, BPI, SM Investments, Ayala Corp., AEV and JG Summit. United Paragon, Boulevard and FLI also traded higher and were part of the day’s list of active traded stocks.

The index gains were tempered by the decline in the share prices of Philex, AGI and ICTSI. Lepanto “A” (open only to local investors) also dipped.

“Risk assets still under pressure on unsettled Europe issues; local economic releases are not particularly helpful either,” said investment bank Credit Agricole CIB.

In its daily note, Credit Agricole CIB noted that European Union finance ministers failed to reach a deal over the weekend, but Greece was due to announce fresh measures after conference call with Troika on Monday.