PHL share prices extend gains amid hopes Greece will avoid default

Philippine share prices extended their gains on Wednesday as markets cautiously turned optimistic hoping that Greece will avoid a default. The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 33.47 points or 0.79 percent to 4,245.28 while the all shares climbed 17.73 points or 0.60 percent to 2,971.22. Market breadth was positive with 94 gainers against 40 losers and 43 stocks that closed unchanged. All six sectoral indices closed in the green, led by Mining & Oil's 2.04-percent advance. Volume traded reached 3.07 billion shares valued at P4.82 billion. Trader Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities noted that Asian markets had cheered Wall Street's recent gains despite debt woes in Europe. "Having said that, the presence of bargain valuations, both from the fundamental and technical fronts, and the approach of the next earnings cycle will provide some reason for positive, albeit tame, upside spin to trades. Europe's debt remains the fulcrum on which the fate of the markets worldwide rests on," Calaycay said in a market note. Overnight, both the Dow and Nasdaq remained in the bull's territory. Asian markets were mostly up, led by Japan's Nikkei, and South Korea's Seoul Composite. In the local bourse, three of the five most active stocks posted gains. Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp., the session's top traded, jumped P0.80 or 4.40 percent to P18.98. Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. added P0.70 or 0.61 percent at P114.70. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. surged P28 or 1.21 percent to P2,350. Holding firm Alliance Global Group Inc. was flat at P10.60. Metropolitan Bank Trust Co., one of the country's largest lenders in terms of assets, slipped P0.05 or 0.07 percent to P69.45. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News