(UPDATED) Philippine stocks sustain rally, near 3,300 again

Local share prices continued rising on Monday after Wall Street posted its longest winning streak in more than six years last Friday, buoyed by strong home sales that overshadowed mixed corporate earnings results. The Philippine Stock Exchange index went up by 1.48 percent or 48.14 points to 3,292.59, with five of the six subindices advancing. Justino B. Calaycay Jr., of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said the stock market appears to be defying the correction that most analysts had predicted. "Much of the positive factors have been discounted by the market. So if the only driver is Wall Street, then it’s not a pretty solid foundation for a sustained rise in the market," he said in an interview. Investors, he said, might be looking forward to first-quarter earnings results, even as he predicted profit-taking as early as Tuesday. "As the index again approaches the 3,300 psychological level, we might see some selling pressure stepping in tomorrow." "Moving forward, it will be a battle between individual company performance in the micro-level and the elections in the macro-level. So far, it appears like the micro-level is winning out in terms of influencing investment decisions," Calaycay said. The analyst noted that while the property index might have benefited from the upgraded central bank forecast for remittances, the sector ranked only fourth in the value of traded stocks on Monday — a little over 10 percent or P448 million out of the P3.59-billion total. The biggest went to industrial stocks — P1.2 billion or nearly a third — followed by holding firms with about P718 million or about a fifth. Gainers beat losers 68 to 32, while 63 stocks were unchanged. Volume reached 949.72 billion stocks worth P3.59 billion. Fifteen of the 20 most actively traded stocks closed higher, while the rest were steady. Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. went up by P30 to P2.475, while Aboitiz Power Corp. gained 75 centavos to close at P14.75. Ayala Corp. advanced by P5 to P352.50, while unit Ayala Land, Inc. added 50 centavos to P14.25. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. gained a peso to P51.50, while oil refiner Petron Corp. closed 60 centavos higher at P6.60. SM Investments Corp., First Gen Corp. and International Containers Terminal Services, Inc. were steady at P397.50, P10 and P28, respectively. Property stocks surged by 2.86 percent or 34.21 points to 1,231.8 following news of central bank expectations of increased money sent home by Filipinos working abroad. Holding firms also soared by 1.75 percent or 36.48 points to 2,124.23, while industrial stocks gained 1.74 percent or 85.86 points to 5,030.01. The financial index likewise inched up by 0.93 percent or 6.43 points to 697.51, while services added 0.84 percent or 12.35 points to finish at 1,481.75. Mining and oil stocks bucked the trend, sliding by 0.09 percent or 8.36 points to 9,091.43. Investor confidence Calaycay said one factor that had not gotten into play is the allegation of an illegal stock deal involving Vista Land and Lifescapes, Inc. that the PSE board supposedly allowed in 2007 at the expense of investors. "It has a potential to eat up the core of investor confidence," he pointed out, adding that so far, the exchange’s short statement last Friday insisting that the deal was aboveboard appeared to have satisfied investor curiosity. "Until more telling evidence is brought out by the Estrada camp, this will just go down as mere political propaganda," he added. Former President Joseph Estrada, who is running again for President, has accused rival Senator Manuel Villar Jr. of pressuring corporate regulators into allowing him to sell stocks of his listed holding company Vista Land — in violation of stock market rules — in 2007 so he could fund his presidential campaign. Estrada, who was booted out of office by a popular street uprising before his impeachment trial could finish in 2001, was himself tagged as having profited from selling BW Resources shares in 1999, in what was dubbed then as the Philippines’ biggest share price manipulation scandal. Villar’s camp has dismissed the charges as black propaganda. — Norman P. Aquino, GMANews.TV