Index stretches run to 6th day this year

MANILA, Philippines - For the seventh consecutive trading day, the main stock index rewrote records anew, hitting a fresh all-time high yesterday as investors remained bullish on Philippine economic and business prospects.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) finished at a new record high of 6,091.18, up 42.28 points or 0.7 percent from Tuesday’s close.

Since last year, the PSEi has registered record highs a total of 44 times.

The broader All Shares index gained 0.57 percent or 21.64 points to 3,835.29 as all counters supported the uptick, led by mining and oil firms and property companies.

Market breadth was positive, as advancers beat decliners, 109 to 73, while 32 stocks remained unchanged. Value of shares traded increased to P8.54 billion from P7.47 billion a day ago.

“The bull run continues. It is being powered by market liquidity and economic prospects for the year,” Astro C. del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., said in a phone interview.

The local market, along with other Asian bourses, bucked the downtrend in the US, where investors worried over lackluster corporate earnings growth in the fourth quarter.

Amid the overbought levels of the market, Del Castillo said “there seems to be a room for more run.”

“It seems the bulls are hungry for the 6,100 mark,” he said.

Around Asia, stocks rose yesterday after the fourth-quarter earnings season got off to a positive start in the US with aluminum giant Alcoa forecasting higher demand for 2013.