Improving U.S. mrkets pulling in RP Investors

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Investors continue to enter the Philippine equities on Thursday following the U.S. stock market’s positive performance.

Investors are also expecting local firms to continue their strong earnings in the third quarter, prompting them to take advantage of every dip in the stock market, analysts said.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.93 percent or 39.42 points to 4,233.38, while the broader all-share index was up by 0.56 percent or 14.96 points to 2,685.91.

Trading volume reached 2.04 billion shares worth 12.18 billion pesos (280.64 million U.S. dollars) with 88 issues advancing, 50 declining and 39 unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the mining and oil sector bucked the trend. The subindex slipped by 0.26 percent or 33.59 points to 12, 885.53.

“We think that the market continued its rally (on Thursday) because of the good corporate earnings in the U.S. that propelled the Dow Jones industrial average index to close higher,” Ignacio Soriano, an analyst of Papa Securities Corp., told Xinhua.

The Dow Jones was up by 0.69 percent or 75.68 points to 11,096. 08. This, Soriano said, boosted investors’ confidence, especially those who are eager to enter the equities and were left behind by its recent successive rallies.

Moreover, expectations that the local companies will continue to post strong earnings in the third quarter provided the much needed excuse to enter the local stock market, Soriano said, adding that “Investors are optimistic that Philippine companies may outperform.”

Stocks in the 30-company index closed higher. Among those that were actively traded were Megaworld Corp., heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Ayala Land, Inc. and Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc. –Manila Bulletin