Philippine market rebounds in heavy trading

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index rebounded in mixed trade on Thursday as quarter-end window-dressing activities prevailed over a cautious global sentiment.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index added 17.58 points, or 0.35 percent, to finish at 5,085.24.

The financial, industrial and holding firm counters kept the local bourse afloat, making up for the slack in property, services and mining/oil.

Turnover was heavy at P11.52 billion on the back of a P3 billion block transaction on SM Investments and another P1.5-billion on Atlas.  Dealers said there were some subdued window-dressing activities now that the first quarter was ending.

Advancers narrowly edged out decliners, 83-81, while 39 stocks were unchanged.

First Metro Asset Management president Gus Cosio said the recent market swings were good. “It’s good volatility. Positions (are) changing hands. This is healthy.”

Dealers said some second-liners were now also benefiting from the rotation of funds as some investors who pocketed gains from blue chips were on the prowl for other opportunities.

JG Summit, MPIC, AC, BPI, DMCI and EDC contributed to the PSEi’s rise. Other stocks that gained in heavy volume were Petron, Cebu Holdings, Nickel Asia and PHES.

Cebu Holdings (up by another 2.1 percent) is still benefiting from an expected increase in stake by the Ayala group while Nickel Asia’s strong 2011 profit results have excited the market in the last two days.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s rise was tempered by the decline in the share prices of SM Investments, AGI, PLDT, Megaworld, Metrobank, Aboitiz Power, Meralco, ALI and Cebu Air.

Trading on Puregold also remains cautious as some equity traders viewed the terms of its S&R Membership Shopping quite expensive. Puregold was set to hold a conference call to explain the acquisition late Thursday.

Overnight, trading in Wall Street was cautious as falling oil and metals prices caused a selldown in commodity-related shares. The closely watched Dow Jones industrial average fell by 71.52 points or 0.54 percent, to finish at 13,126.21.

Apart from the commodities factor, the market was digesting data on lower-than-expected growth in new orders for US manufactured goods. Likewise, a dampener on sentiment was the news that a leading indicator of future business investment fell short of forecasts.