PHL share prices close higher, buck decline in global markets

Philippine share prices closed higher on Thursday, bucking the decline in global markets. The bellwether 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed 20.88 points or 0.49 percent to 4,311.02 while the all shares added 8.73 points or 0.29 percent at 2,996.81. Losers, however, led gainers, 86 to 62, while 37 stocks closed unchanged. Except for Financials and Services, all other four sectoral indices closed in the green, with Mining & Oil registering a 4.21-percent rise. Volume traded reached about 7.27 billion share valued at about P7.13 billion. The market's modest gains despite Wall Street's retreat were an indication of the relatively stable local economy and corporate earnings. "We maintain our own faith in the domestic fundamentals and corporate earnings. Drops of a big magnitude should be an opportunity to selectively pick up bargain counters with a good fundamental standing," said trader Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities. Overnight, the Dow shed 4.62 percent while Nasdaq lost 4.09 percent. Trading in Asia on Thursday was mostly bearish with main indices in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore slipping by over 1 percent. Meanwhile, bourses in Shanghai, New Zealand and South Korea were trading in the green. In the local bourse, three of the five of the most active stocks for the day, retreated. SM Investments Corp., the holding firm of the SM Group and the session's top traded, dropped P12 or 2.31 percent to P507. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. gained P0.08 or 6.25 percent at P1.36. Philex Mining Corp. jumped P0,75 or 2.77 percent to P27.85. Zeus Holdings Inc. dipped P0.22 or 18.49 percent to P0.97. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News