Local stocks rise as investors find relief in US rescue plan

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine share prices on Friday rallied, ending an emotional week in the black as investors found relief in the US government's plan to rescue troubled financial institutions. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index surged 110.42 points or 4.694 percent to 2,462.79 while the all-share index soared 56.78 points or 3.7799 percent to 1,558.93. Gainers routed losers 99 to 18 while 29 stocks were unchanged. Volume traded reached 1.03 billion valued at P3.095 billion. John Paul Palmiery, Unicapital Securities senior associate technical analyst, said that with Dow Jones' 410-point gain Thursday, the local bourse found support to recover some steam, following three days of huge losses. Investors were mainly encouraged by news that the US government is looking for a way to help banks by buying falling assets from them, Palmiery said. “The stock market rallied because of the US plan to rescue in distress banks. The US government is seeking to pass a law on this," he said. Palmiery noted that if the plan pushes through, it will put liquidity back to these assets. Among the sub-indices, the financials, which had been severely battered the past few days following admissions of several local banks that they have investments in Lehman Brothers and Merril Lynch, posted the biggest percentage gain, 7.5359 percent, at 633.15. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. rose P70 or 2.8226 percent to P2,550. Geothermal power producer PNOC-Energy Development Corp. jumped P0.10 or 3.3898 percent to P3.05. Property giant Ayala Land Inc. leaped P0.20 or 2.1505 percent to P9.50. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the country's largest lender in terms of assets, climbed P4 or 13.1148 percent to P34.50. Holding company SM Investments Corp. went up P3.50 or 1.4056 percent to P252.50. GMANews.TV