Philippine stocks rise for second straight session

Philippine stocks posted gains for the second straight day on Thursday despite the decline of the Dow Jones industrial average on Wednesday. The local stock index gained 30.06 points or 1.04 percent, closing at 2,914.87, with 932 million traded stocks valued at P2.18 billion. “The market has been oversold," observed analyst Emmanuel Soller of Equitiworld Securities in an interview. Soller described the Dow Jones drop as “negligible" vis-à-vis the local market’s movement. “If the change in US stocks reaches the less-than-a-hundred level, whether positive or negative, the local market will most likely react positively," explained Soller. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 26 points on Wednesday after gaining a total of 230 points in the first two days of the week. On the local front, overall shares posted 0.76-percent or 14.06-point gains, closing at 1,853.78, save for service stocks which fell 0.07 percent or 1.06 points to 1,474.29. Industrial stocks gained the highest at 96.36 points or 2.22 percent to 4,444.02, followed by property stocks with 1.53 percent or 15 points to 992.89. Financials stocks followed with a 1.1-percent or 6.73-point rise to 615, and holding firms which gained 1.03 percent or 16.06 points to 1569.83. The mining and oil industry posted 0.32-percent or 30.16-point gains to 9,532.75. Gainers beat losers, 69 to 34, with 54 unchanged. Thursday’s top gainer was Oriental Peninsula Resources Group, Inc., which posted a 33.9-percent increase to P1.58 apiece. Republic Glass Holdings Corporation, on the other hand, lost 18.75 percent to P1.30 per share. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV