Index rises for 3rd straight session on select buying

MANILA, Philippines - The stock market rose a third straight session yesterday as investors picked up shares of blue-chip companies and selected second-liners.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 16.68 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 4,251.64.

Turnover amounted to P4.64 billion. There were 77 advancers against 50 decliners, while the prices of 40 stocks remained unchanged.

All counters were up, especially mining/oil, which outperformed others with its 2.43-percent jump, except the property counter, which was slightly down.

The stocks that lifted the PSEi were those of PLDT, SM Investments, Lepanto Mining, DMCI, Metrobank, Ayala Corp., Filinvest Land, Ayala Land and Metro Pacific Investments. Non-index stocks Vista Land, Nickel Asia and Security Bank also gained on heavy trade.

PLDT went by 0.43 percent to P2,350 each. On the other hand, EDC, Semirara, Lopez Holdings, PNB, AEV, First Gen and PSE succumbed to profit-taking.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets fell Friday after China reported inflation climbed again despite government efforts to control living costs, raising fears among investors that the government will take further measures to cool the country’s thundering economic growth.

Oil prices hovered above $108 a barrel Friday in Asia as traders mulled a weaker US dollar and signs of strong global crude demand to justify a two-month rally.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.5 percent at 3,026.44 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 percent to 23,929.32.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.7 percent to 9,583.01. South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.4 percent to 2,133.17 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5 percent at 4,859.70. Benchmarks in Singapore and India were also lower. Benchmarks in Indonesia and the Philippines were higher.

Data released Friday showed that Chinese consumer prices rose 5.4 percent over a year ago, driven by surging food costs. That’s up from February’s 4.9-percent increase and was a setback for communist leaders who have boosted interest rates four times since October and taken other steps to cool prices.