Philippines shares jump

Philippines share prices closed 0.62 percent higher on Friday ahead of a long weekend amid listless trading with no clear leads, dealers said. The composite index gained 17.36 points to 2,789.33 while the all-shares index added 0.69 percent to 1,799.57. There were 64 gainers against 33 losers and 62 that were unchanged.
A total of 2.843 billion shares worth 2.583 billion pesos (54.04 million dollars) changed hands and the local currency traded at 47.795 to the dollar. Philippine Long Distance Telephone gained 1.08 percent to 2,325 pesos while Manila Electric Co dropped 2.29 percent to 170 pesos. Energy Development Corp was unchanged at 4.70 pesos while SM Investments Corp was also unmoved, at 322.50 pesos.