Philippines share prices closed 0.57 percent higher on Tuesday due to follow-through buying in blue chips and select second-liners ahead of the long Easter break, dealers said. They said a fall in benchmark Treasury Bill rates to record lows had further driven up interest in stocks.
The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index closed up 18.40 points at 3,248.00 after moving between 3,229.60 and 3,260.48. The broader all-share index rose 8.11 points to 2,069.69. Gainers edged out losers 75 to 36, while 51 stocks ended unchanged. A total of 3.7 billion shares worth 4.4 billion pesos (91.96 million dollars) changed hands.
The local currency traded at 48.357 to the dollar. "We were expecting weaker trading today because of the Easter holidays, but the record-low interest rates became the impetus for positioning in blue chips and select second liners," said Chelsea Dipasupil of RCBC Securities Ltd.
Top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co continued the gains of its New York-traded American Depository Receipts overnight, rising 40 pesos to 2,565. Ayala Corp edged up five to 570. Property developer Megaworld Corp advanced five centavos to 3.55 pesos after reporting strong earnings results for 2006. Ayala Land Inc was steady at 16.75 pesos.
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