Philippines share prices closed 1.76 percent higher on Thursday, lifted by better-than-expected economic growth figures for the third quarter of the year, dealers said. The composite index gained 34.1 points to 1,976.01 points, while the all-shares index gained 1.65 percent to 1,240.22 points.
There were 66 gainers, 22 losers and 43 unchanged. Turnover totalled 1.156 billion shares worth 2.107 billion pesos (43.09 million dollars). The local currency traded at 48.891 to the dollar.
The upturn came as the government said the economy grew by 4.6 percent in the third quarter and by 4.6 percent in the first nine months of the year despite the world financial crisis and high interest rates. "This is good, way better than we expected," said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities Inc.
"It came in a quarter when we were hardest hit in terms of confidence," due to the high oil and food prices and the emerging crisis in the world financial system, Vistan remarked. He said there was some profit-taking near the end of trading. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co rose 0.2 percent to 2,335 pesos. Property developer Megaworld Corp gained 9.09 percent to 60 centavos while Banco de Oro Unibank rose 1.09 percent to 23 pesos. San Miguel Corp saw its A shares remain unchanged at 42 pesos while its B shares gained 1.19 percent to 42.50 pesos.