Cautious optimism buoys PHL shares

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange rose in moderate trading Monday, the first trading day of the year, helped by a cautious optimism adopted by most investors. The outlook for 2011 is positive, but there is an accompanying cautiousness in the absence of election spending that helped the macro-fundamentals in the first quarter of 2010, said Olga de Ramos, a trader with Equityworld Securities Inc. The PSE index advanced 14.07 points or 0.33 percent to close at 4,215.21, according to the PSE online market information as of 12:10 p.m. More than 5.209 billion shares valued at P3.825 billion were traded. Winners led losers 79 to 54 with 30 issues unchanged. Gainers were largely blue chip stocks, according to Equityworld Securities. The market may go into correction within the first quarter in the absence of election spending that helped boost the market last year, De Ramos said, referring to the campaign spending by candidates in the May 10 national polls that catapulted then presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III to power. This expectation could be allayed by a policy pronouncement from the Aquino administration, she added. — VS, GMANews.TV