Philippines share prices closed 1.63 percent higher on Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak, with Wall Street's rebound overnight triggering bargain-hunting in blue chips, dealers said. The composite index added 60.24 points to end at 3,756.75, its high for the day. The low was 3,696.51.
The broader all-share index rose 36.09 points to 2,419.14. Advancers outnumbered decliners 81 to 38, while 53 stocks ended unchanged. A total of 6.1 billion shares worth 9.2 billion pesos (200 million dollars) were traded. "Investors picked up shares which were at relatively bargain levels after the recent slide," said Lawrence de Leon of Accord Capital Equities.
"Punters went into penny stocks, while the bigger players chose blue chips that are now at more attractive levels," he said. Rommel Macapagal of Westlink Global Equities said the market seemed to have built a strong support base at the 3,700-level and will be testing the new resistance of 3,750 points in the coming sessions. However, with the spate of initial public offerings this month, market players are likely to hold back from taking fresh positions as they await the listing of power producer Aboitiz Corp on July 16.
GMA Network will also debut on the local bourse by the end of the month. "We can still expect some profit-taking as some investors unload recent gains and channel these into the new offerings. The consolidation will be mild, though, because foreign funds are still very much around," said Gomer Tan of Regina Capital Development Corp.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone or PLDT added 40 pesos to 2,700 pesos. Ayala Corp gained five pesos to 575 pesos, with subsidiaries Globe Telecom rising 45 pesos to 1,395 pesos, Bank of the Philippine Islands adding 1.50 pesos to 72 pesos and Ayala Land gaining 75 centavos to 18.25 pesos. San Miguel A rose 1.50 pesos to 76.50 pesos, while its B shares were unchanged at 82.50 pesos.