Stocks gain 3% as players go bargain hunting

(Updated 12:54 p.m.) Philippine share prices closed sharply higher on Thursday, tracking the gains made by Wall Street, as investors went bargain-hunting for cheap blue chip stocks, analysts said. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index soared 89.16 points or 2.92 percent to 3,147.42, however the index reached a high of 3,170.48 during the session, before players decided to trim gains towards the end of the day. The broader all-shares index jumped 45.06 points or 2.38 percent to 1,939.18. Gainers were whipping losers 101 to 24 while 40 were steady. About 2.36 billion shares worth almost P5 billion changed hands. Astro del Castillo, First Grade Holdings managing director, said bargain-hunters ruled the day because of consensus that the market is already oversold. "Besides investors realizing that our fundamentals remain solid and the strong potentials of our listed companies, Wall Street was up last night and oil prices went down," he said. Del Castillo added that the rate cut made by the US Federal Reserve is "boosting the market." However, he warned that the market is not yet out of the woods and investors have yet to see the end of market volatility. The Dow Jones industrial on Wednesday gained almost 300 points following the US Fed emergency rate cut to 3.5 percent on Tuesday. Top telecom firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. led trading. It gained P85 or 3.29 percent at P2,670. Ayala Corp., the country's largest business group, rose P5 or 1.11 percent to P455. Its property unit Ayala Land Inc. added P0.50 or 3.70 percent at P14. Megaworld Corp. jumped P0.10 or 3.57 percent to P2.90. Manila Electric Co., the country's largest power distributor, surged P3 or 4.23 percent to P74. - GMANews.TV