Stocks rise as investors focus on energy issues

MANILA, Philippines - The local stock market closed slightly higher yesterday, tracking the modest gains on Wall St., as investors turned their focus on selected stocks in the energy sector, traders said.

“Investors continued to buy up stocks in the power sector. Factoring out this power play, the market had, in fact, closed slightly lower,” BPI Securities pointed out in an online report.

The 30-issue Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added another 12.28 points or 0.4 percent to end at 3,119.63. The broader all-shares index, meanwhile, was almost flat, inching up a mere 0.91 point to 1,955.37.

There were 59 gainers as against 52 decliners, while 62 issues were unchanged.

A total of 1.28 billion shares changed hands worth P3.32 billion, on net foreign buying of about P494 million.

BPI Securities said gains were due largely to interest in a few stocks, notably the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and First Gen, and Aboitiz Power.

Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. also moved higher following its announcement of a tender offer. Top Frontier Holdings, an investment holding company controlled by former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin, will make a tender offer to buy out minority stockholders owning 13.95 percent of the conglomerate for P75 each share. The offer starts next week and ends on April 8.

San Miguel’s A and B shares both closed at P73.50, gaining as much as 4.26 percent during the day.

“The market is almost to its recent high (at around 3,120). A correction is likely as we test this index high,” BPI Securities said.

“The market is nearing oversold levels and other technical indicators point toward flat to lower movements. Our advice remains to take advantage of this opportunity to lock in profits. As the market moves flat to lower in the coming days, trading might focus on blue chips while investors look for the next speculative stock that they can possibly take advantage of,” said AB Capital Securities in a report on its website.