Strong PLDT manages to boost a lackluster market

Share prices closed 0.28 percent higher yesterday as Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) lifted an otherwise lackluster market, dealers said.

Trade was subdued with investors wary over a possibility the central bank will hike interest rates to head off inflation and an unresolved opposition legal challenge to the government’s new expanded value-added tax (EVAT) law, they added.

The composite index rose 5.42 points to 1,933.51 after trading in a narrow 11-point range. Turnover was 459.4 million shares worth P632.4 million. The broader all-shares index edged up by 1.99 points to 1,177.81.

Gainers beat losers 35 to 30, with 54 stocks unchanged.

"The market is neither here nor there," said Harry Liu of Summit Securities.

Some investors have begun to take positions in stocks that are expected to report strong results for the three months to September but the upside was limited by prevailing economic concerns such as uncertainties on the implementation of the EVAT law, he added.

"Gains have slowed down from (Monday). Aside from PLDT, the rise has been limited to second- and third-liners," said Lawrence de Leon of Accord Capital Equities.

Dealers said an expected hike in interest rates at the central bank’s next meeting Thursday weighed on sentiment. The key overnight rates — seven percent for borrowing and 9.25 percent for lending — were last raised in April to curb a sharp rise in inflation.

PLDT, the most active stock, rose P45 to P1,610.

Manila Electric (Meralco) B, available to all investors, gained 25 centavos to P20.25. Meralco A, limited to local investors, also added 25 centavos to P13.75.

Ayala Land rose 10 centavos to P7.90, while parent Ayala Corp. fell P10 to P295.

San Miguel B, open to all investors, fell P1 to P94, while San Miguel A advanced 50 centavos to P65.50.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, the largest lender by market value, fell 50 centavos, or one percent, to P51. Philippine National Bank, a lender controlled by the nation’s second-richest tycoon, lost 50 centavos, or 1.5 percent, to P34.

The central bank said yesterday that the commercial bank industry’s bad loans, those at least 90 days overdue, increased to 9.54 percent of total credit in July from 9.21 percent in June. It also said that commercial bank loans fell 3.4 percent in July from the previous month.

Shares worth P635 million were traded, 49 percent less than the six-month daily average and the smallest amount in eight days. – AFP