Share prices inch up 5 pts on last-minute buying

Stocks climbed slightly higher for the third straight trading day as a slew of blue chip orders before the market’s run-off again lifted the main index at the close.

The Phisix added another 4.8 points or 0.34 percent to 1,408.19 while the broader All-Shares index moved up 15.57 points or 2.07 percent to 769.52.

Despite the marginal gains, the market’s general sentiment remained on the downside with jittery investors holding back on deals ahead of the expected showdown between pro-administration and opposition senators on the controversial Valhalla bank account at the resumption of President Estrada’s impeachment trial later in the day.

Analysts said the result of the voting to affirm or overturn the earlier ruling of Chief Justice Hilario Davide, allowing to pry open the mysterious Valhalla bank account in Equitable PCI Bank as part of the evidence in the paper trail leading to President Estrada’s alleged purchase of a P142-million mansion for one of his mistresses, could strongly indicate how the actual decision of the senator-jurors to impeach or acquit the President might end up.

A member of the prosecution panel even went as far as saying that an override of Davide’s ruling would be tantamount to them losing the case, by far the biggest challenge that has rocked the two-year Estrada presidency.

Trade turnover was light, at just under P400 million, with the counters finishing mixed; commercial-industrial and property advanced; finance and mining retreated; and oil was unmoved.

Individual stocks likewise scattered in different directions with 23 gainers, 30 losers and 40 unchanged issues.

Helping pull the Phisix out of the red were the heavyweights: Ayala Corp., PLDT, San Miguel, Meralco B, Ayala Land, Metrobank, Benpres Holdings, SM Prime, Ionics Corp. and ABS-CBN on a series of late-buying by the government financial institutions (GFIs).

Except for Ayala Corp., Benpres and SM Prime which posted gains, the rest only managed to close steady.

Boosting the All-Shares index, meanwhile, were Canadian insurers Manulife and Sunlife, along with Alliance Global Inc., the most active of the day.

Sunlife rose P6 to P1,125 while its competitor Manulife bolted P90 to P1,420, one of the top gainers yesterday, following reports its Japanese subsidiary Manulife Century will be taking over Daihyaku Mutual Life Insurance Co. by January next year.

Among the losing stocks, on the other hand, were Fairmont Holdings, San Miguel B, JG Summit Holdings, Bank of Philippine Islands and Equitable PCI Bank.