Philippines share prices closed 0.37 percent higher on Wednesday thanks to last-minute bargain hunting in selected stocks, dealers said.
They said trade continued cautious, however, with investors divided between chasing cheaper stocks and keeping on the sidelined following Wall Street's losses overnight and in the absence of fresh leads.
The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index added 7.06 points to 1,934.55 after trading in a tight range between 1,923.71 and 1,935.57. Volume was 356.55 million shares worth 1.0 billion pesos (18.2 million dollars.)
The broader all-shares index gained 2.65 points to 1,177.04.
Losers outnumbered gainers 37 to 31 and 45 stocks ended unchanged.
The Philippine peso was at 55.085 to the dollar as of mid-day.
"The market is going through a consolidation," said Harry Liu of Summit Securities Inc, adding that "there has been much hesitancy in the market."
Investors may have preferred to limit their exposure in the market ahead of a long holiday weekend and as they wait to see whether the government would push through with its commitment to implement a controversial expanded value-added tax law on November 1, said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities.
Markets here are closed on October 31, November 1 and November 4 for public holidays. Philippine Long Distance Telephone was the most actively traded stock, closing up five pesos at 1,660 pesos.
Ayala Corp retreated 2.50 pesos to 282.50 pesos while unit Globe Telecom fell five pesos to 700 pesos and Ayala Land was unchanged at 8.60 pesos.
San Miguel Corp A shares closed flat at 65 pesos while San Miguel Corp B shares were also steady at 90 pesos.
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