Index climbs 75 pts on positive outlook

MANILA, Philippines - Local share prices surged yesterday, following Friday’s 137-point drop on optimism that the European financial crisis would be resolved.

The main PSEi gained 74.58 points or 1.53 percent to 4,954 at the close.

A total of 2.83 billion shares valued at P6.012 billion changed hands.

Winners led losers 103 to 42, while 40 issues closed unchanged.

Analysts said there was a bit of optimism that the European financial crisis would be resolved and people were expecting the US market to make some gains.

In other markets in Asia, bargain-hunting helped markets edge upward Monday, but gains were limited as investors remained unconvinced that the world’s major economies nailed a solution to the European debt crisis following a summit in Washington.

Markets posted only muted gains as traders were kept on edge by worries about the economic future of Greece and whether it would exit the 17-country euro currency union.

A weekend summit in Washington among leaders of the world’s most powerful nations provided little in the way of encouragement for investors already nervous about slowing growth in China and fears that turmoil in Europe could hit key export industries.

Leaders of the G-8 countries issued a statement calling for both painful cutbacks and growth-promoting measures to deal with a crisis that threatens the global economy. But actual steps were left up to individual countries to take.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index came off four-month lows to rise 0.3 percent at 8,633.89. Nishimatsu Construction Co. added 3.9 percent and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. rose 1.4 percent. Camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corp. rose 1.7 percent.

Australia’s S&P/ASX rose 0.2 percent to 4,055.90 as improving commodities prices helped its sizable resource sector. Energy Resources of Australia jumped 4.4 percent and BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, added two percent. – AP

Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index was 0.3 percent higher at 2,351.06. Benchmarks in Taiwan and India also rose. Singapore was mostly flat.

But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3 percent at 18,893.53. Indonesia, Thailand and New Zealand benchmarks also fell.