Philippine stock prices rebound

MANILA, Philippines – Local stock prices rebounded on Friday as investors voiced relief that Greece had shelved a plan to put to a popular vote a long-awaited European bailout plan.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index surged by 61.47 points or 1.46 percent to close at 4,271.72.

This was after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou reconsidered an earlier referendum proposal that could have jeopardized a European agreement to bail out Greece and boost European banks.

Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average extended its rally for a second day, gaining by 208.43 points or 1.76 percent to finish at 12,044.47 as Wall Street cheered the development in Greece.

At the local market, all counters traded higher, especially the financial sub-index which bounced by 1.6 percent.

Turnover amounted to P4.54 billion. There were 106 advancers against 45 losers while 25 stocks were unchanged.

The local index was led higher by SMC, PLDT, BDO, Semirara, URC, ALI, Cebu Air, Philex, MPI, AGI, DMCI, Metrobank, Megaworld and Jollibee. Other stocks like Puregold, PNB, Atlas and Zeus also gained in active trade.