PHL share prices post modest gains, shrugs off US debt woes

Philippine share prices posted modest gains on Wednesday as investors shrugged off woes from the US debt stalemate. The bellwether 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped 17.02 points or 0.38 percent to 4,482.89 while the all shares rose 9.31 points or 0.30 percent to 3,107.86. Losers edged out gainers, 72 to 70, while 44 stocks closed unchanged. Four of the six sub-indices advanced, led by Property's 0.92-percent climb. Mining & Oil and Services were the sore spots with a 0.39-percent and 0.30-percent drop, respectively. Volume traded reached 3.12 billion shares valued at P5.13 billion. Overnight Tuesday, both the Dow and Nasdaq retreated as Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress continued to wrangle over the debates on raising the US debt's ceiling. "The local market's reaction to these events, or more accurately, non-events, has been generally muted," said trader Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities. Three of the five most active stocks for the day closed in the green. SM Investments Corp., the holding company of the SM group and the day's top traded, dipped P2 or 0.37 percent to P536, while banking unit Banco de Oro surged P1.05 or 1.69 percent to P63.25. Developer Megaworld Corp. gained P0.09 or 4.21 percent at P2.23. Philex Mining Corp., the country's largest miner, leaped P0.65 or 2.67 percent to P25. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. lost P0.04 or 3.48 percent at P1.11. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News