Index recovers for 2nd straight session

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices recovered for the second straight day yesterday, pushing the main composite index past the 6,500 mark anew.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.71 percent or 45.73 points to end at 6,518.71, while the broader all shares index added 0.56 percent or 22.77 points to 4,099.26.

Investors picked stocks that became cheaper following eight-day losing skid that ended just last Thursday.

The market bucked Wall Street’s decline that was dragged by worries on Cyprus’s debt woes.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.62 percent or 90.24 points to close at 14,421.49, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 0.83 percent or 12.91 points to end at 1,545.80.

Locally, all counters, save for industrial firms that fell 0.12 percent or 12.15 points to 9,866.40, were in the positive territory. The gainers were paced by financial firms that climbed 1.38 percent or 23.63 points to 1,729.86.

The value of shares traded thinned, with P9.32 billion worth of shares changing hands from P9.51 billion on Thursday.

Winners outpaced losers, 89 to 74, while 31 stocks did not change.

Analysts expect market participation to drop in the next trading days ahead of the Lenten season.