RP stock index mirrors Wall Street's steady movement

Local share prices barely moved on Wednesday, mirroring Wall Street's flat performance overnight. The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.24 percent or 7.4 points to 3,069.29, with only one of the six subindices dropping. Analyst Harry Liu of Summit Securities said there is resistance to the composite index’s climb to 3,100 points. "We expect it to stay at that level this week. In the coming weeks, we should expect the market to move sideways and make a correction," he said. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up by 2.19 points on Tuesday, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 2.6 points. The NASDAQ composite also advanced by 7.22 points. On the local front, gainers beat losers 60 to 47, while 54 stocks were unchanged. Volume reached 1.82 billion stocks worth P3.09 billion. Holding firms closed 0.71 percent or 12.37 points higher at 1746.41, while services added 0.45 percent or 6.92 points to finish at 1551.98. Property stocks also inched up by 0.34 percent or 3.51 points to 1049.54, while mining and oil companies gained 0.13 percent or 11.95 points to 9,555.91. Industrial stocks likewise finished 0.06 percent or 2.99 points higher at 4628.69. Financial stocks, on the other hand, lost 0.22 percent or 1.43 points to close at 644.51. Holding company Sinophil Corporation, the day’s biggest gainer, closed 17 percent higher at 33 centavos. Wednesday’s biggest loser, Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc., lost P2.25 to finish at P12.75. Real estate developer Belle Corporation, the most actively traded stock, closed 7 percent higher at P1.68. Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which on Tuesday said it expects flat profits this year, added P10 to close at P2,685. — Nikka Corsino/NPA, GMANews.TV