Philippines share prices closed 0.3 percent higher on Wednesday due to bargain-hunting following the downturn in the previous session, dealers said. The composite index gained 9.05 points to 2,646.70 points. The all-share index rose 0.3 percent to 1,639.80 points.
Volume amounted to 898.4 million shares worth 1.384 billion pesos (30.1 million dollars). There were 48 gainers versus 34 losers and 55 that were unchanged. The local currency traded at 45.903 to the dollar. "It is basically flat today. There is just some bargain hunting following the weakness," on Tuesday, said Spencer Yap of BPI Securities Corp.
"Wall Street was also up a little overnight. That lifted some of the pressure off," the local market. But he warned that "we're still not too optimistic given the volatility of US equities." "People are still watching the US market, the price of crude oil," he said.
Property giant Megaworld Corp rose 9.09 percent to 1.44 pesos while telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co rose 0.37 percent to 2,675 pesos. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co rose 1.37 percent to 37 pesos. However San Miguel Corp saw its A shares fall 1.11 percent to 44.50 pesos while its B shares rose 1.09 percent to 46 pesos.