'Santa Claus rally' lifts PHL shares in cautious trading

A “Santa Claus rally" kept Philippine shares buoyant in cautious trading Wednesday, helped by gains from overseas markets. The main Philippine Stock Exchange index advanced 31.53 points or 0.73 percent to close at 4,346.20. More than 4.878 billion shares valued at P3.998 billion changed hands in the session. “This is really a Santa Claus rally," said stockbroker Joseph Roxas of Eagle Equities Inc., describing investor sentiment in the run up to Christmas. “The market is not going up fast, because this is not a strong rally, but still it keeps the market up," Roxas noted. Gainers led losers 85 to 59 while 41 issues were unchanged. “People are still a little cautious, because other markets are quite volatile — sometimes up three percent, sometimes down two percent," Roxas said. Still, the results of trading overnight on Wall Street and Asian markets Wednesday helped buoy investor sentiment on the Philippine bourse. According to a Reuters report, “US stocks closed higher on Tuesday for a second day in a row as late-day news about Europe sparked an afternoon rally that erased early weakness... The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 101.79 points, or 0.84 percent, to 12,170.18." In a separate report, Reuters described Asian shares having rallied Wednesday “after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would resign, raising hopes the debt-ridden country would proceed with reforms that may help keep the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis from spreading." — KBK, GMA News