Philippines share prices surged on Monday to close 5.11 percent higher, lifted by a rally on Wall Street and positive economic developments in the United States, dealers said. The composite index gained 139 points to close at 2,859.18 while the all-shares index jumped 3.79 percent to 1,810.36. There were 97 gainers against 18 losers and 46 that were unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 2.437 billion shares worth 4.215 billion pesos (87.2 million dollars). The local currency traded at 48.311 to the dollar on Monday morning. "We are playing catch up. We were closed on Friday," so the Philippine market is only reacting to the run-up on Wall Street on Monday, said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities Inc.
"The Dow Jones index made a new 2009 high," on Friday. "That strong run-up pulled Asia up" as well, Vistan told AFP. US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's comments about the US economy having good prospects for recovery, "also helped the market," he added. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co jumped 4.78 percent to 2,520 pesos while the Manila Electric Co grew 12.24 percent to 220 pesos. Megaworld Corp rose 14.5 percent to 1.42 pesos while Ayala Land rose 3.09 percent to 10 pesos.