Roundup: Philippine stocks end up Thursday on Philex, Meralco trade

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by one
percent or 30.69 points to close at 3,083.30 on Thursday, while
the all share index rallied by 0.67 percent or 12.91 points to 1,
919.19.

Trading on Philex and Meralco, which accounted for 19 percent
of the market's transaction, pushed the local market to hit a 20-
month high.

Trading was within average where some 2.36 billion shares
valued at 3.06 billion pesos (65.5 million U.S. dollars) changed
hands. Foreign investors remain consistent at the buying side with
142 million pesos (3.040 million U.S. dollars).

All six counters climbed, led by mining and oil shares which
again went up by 4.91 percent or 519.40 points to 11,082.63. The
issue was again pulled up by Philex which climbed by 8.19 percent
to 16.50 pesos (0.35 U.S. dollar).

Market breadth, however, remains negative where 60 issues
declined, 55 gained and 60 shares did not move.

"Philex and Meralco fell out of the limelight recently and
pulled back to attractive levels for traders to stock
repositioning," an analyst at local brokerage AB Capital
Securities, Inc. said.

He said market players are speculating that both issues are
involved in their own respective tug of wars for control. Philex
has climbed to its record high of 20 pesos (0.43 U.S. dollar) last
week with market speculating that state-run Government Services
Insurance Systems and Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. is
buying the issue.

Meralco, which rose by 3.7 percent to 224 pesos (4.80 U.S.
dollars) Thursday, started climbing earlier this week following
the Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement that it is
studying whether or not First Pacific's local unit Metro Pacific
Investments Corp. should do a tender offer.

Aside from these two issues, blue chips were also the most
actively traded issues on Thursday as investors shift to safer
haven following the recent rallies in the speculative stocks.

But while the market's rally to a fresh year-high is something
to be cheered about, the AB Capital analyst said it is lacking of
additional push. A correction in the major bourses abroad can
trigger a similar correction on the local bourse and may lead to a
near-term pull back to the 2,960 level by the first week of
December.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed higher, led by Ayala
Land, Inc. and its parent firm Ayala Corp.; banks Banco de Oro
Unibank, Inc. and the Bank of the Philippine Islands and
heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

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