PHL share prices close higher, extend gains for 4th day

Philippine share prices closed higher on Monday, extending gains for a fourth straight day. The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index added 10.90 points or 0.25 percent at 4,332.63 while the all shares climbed 17.72 points or 0.59 percent to 3,028.00. Market breadth was positive with 83 gainers against 55 losers and 44 stocks that closed unchanged. Except for Financials and Property, all other four subindices ended in the green with Mining & Oil advancing 1.01 percent. Volume traded reached 4.51 billion shares valued at P4.99 billion. "Investors are expected to keep on the hunt for already bargain counters, focusing more on the fundamental resilience of the broad economy as well as positive corporate numbers through the first semester," said trader Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities. The market suffered significant drop last week following the historic credit downgrade of the US, raising fears that the global economy may be in for another recession as other traditional growth drivers such as Europe and Japan are already facing internal troubles. Last Friday, however, Wall Street extended gains with the Dow logging in a 1.13-percent jump and Nasdaq with a 0.61-percent rise. As of mid-trade Monday, Asian markets were trading higher, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising by over 2 percent. In the local bourse, three of the five top traded stocks posted gains. Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., the country's largest lender in terms of assets and the session's most active, declined P0.80 or 1.33 percent to P59.20, while rival Bank of the Philippine Islands leaped P0.35 or 0.60 percent to P58.30. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. inched up P0.05 or 3.42 percentat P1.51. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. was flat at P2,240. Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. surged P5.60 or 4.63 percent to P126.50. --CMA/OMG, GMA News