PHL share prices close higher, buck bearish Asian sentiment

Philippine share prices closed higher on Monday, bucking the bearish sentiment in Asia. The bellwether 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 17.82 points or 0.41 percent to 4,307.99 while the all shares jumped 15.68 points or 0.52 percent to 3,039.98. Gainers edged out losers, 71 to 65, while 41 stocks closed unchanged. Four of the six sub-indices closed in the green, led by Industrial's 0.89-percent climb. Volume traded reached 9.28 billion share valued at P3.10 billion. "The general movement remains largely sideways but the bias is expected to shift to positive," said trader Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities. As of mid-trade Monday, Asian markets, save for Japan's Nikkei, were trading lower led by the over 2 percent losses of Hong Kong's Hang Seng. In the local bourse, four of the five most active stocks advanced. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. , the day's top traded, surged P16 or 0.70 percent to P2,316. United Paragon Mining Corp. added P0.005 or 22.73 percent at P0.027. Boulevard Holdings Inc. gained P0.01 or 2.08 percent at P0.49. Retail giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. leaped P0.02 or 0.15 percent to P13.02. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. "A" dropped P0.01 or 0.72 percent to P1.38. - CMA/OMG, GMA News