PHL share prices up on strong fundamentals

The Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed Monday as investors have started to build up their optimism on the nation's economic fundamentals. Astro del Castillo, First Grade Finance Inc. managing director, said that investors have begun to digest that the Philippines would post economic gains for last year. "Economy is seen to continue to grow" although at a slower pace, Del Castillo said in an interview. The PSEi rose 16.12 points or 0.39 percent to close at 4,148.16, according to the PSE's online market information as of 12:10 p.m. Value turnover reached P5.054 billion, with more than 2.018 billion shares changed hands. Advancers edged out decliners 81 to 64, while 38 issues remained unchanged. Del Castillo looks forward to another season of "positive" corporate earnings results. "This would translate or indicate to positive economic fundamentals." The PSEi's chart is showing a positive bias for the short term, Del Castillo said, noting that the main index will reach 4,100-4,200 level within the week. "We do see some small gains [this] week as the PSEi's stochastic indicators gave a buy signal last week," an AB Capital Securities Inc. report said. "We are not discounting a possible break down from the current trend channels as optimism is seen to taper off," AB Capital said. -- JE/OMG, GMANews.TV