Index inches up on late bargain hunting

MANILA, Philippines - The local bourse managed to reverse early losses, posting a marginal gain on the back of late bargain hunting.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index inched up 0.06 percent or 3.65 points to 6,543.46, recovering from an intraday low of 6,500.79. The broader all shares index slightly fell 0.03 percent or 1.02 percent to 3,961.79.

“Prices at the local stock market as measured by the PSEi spent most of the day on the low side, but managed to attract bargain hunters to snap a two-session decline,” Justino Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

Calaycay said weak economic numbers spurred confidence in equities, giving the US Federal Reserve a reason to delay the pullout of its stimulus program to next year.

“Anticipations the US Fed will leave quantitative easing untouched at the conclusion of its two-day meeting Wednesday was strengthened even more by below forecast factory output and housing data,” Calaycay said.

Wall Street closed mixed on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 0.01 percent or 1.35 points to 15,568.93 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 0.1 percent or 2.34 points to 1,762.11.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.49 percent or 70.06 points to 14,325.98, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.38 percent or 39.96 points to 22,846.54.

Most counters closed in positive territory, led by holding firms that gained 0.61 percent or 36.43 points to 5,974.04. But the property sector slipped 1.14 percent or 29.86 points to 2,600, dragged by the correction in SM Prime Holdings (-5.52 percent).