Bourse rallies on possible ASEAN economic stimulus

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine stock market today managed to buck the three-digit slide in the US equities following reports that the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations might adopt some economic stimulus.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.71 percent or 51.41 points to 7,275.62, while the broader all-share index rose by 0.66 percent or 27.88 points to 4,266.16.

Trading volume reached 2.27 billion shares worth P10.48 billion ($234.71 million) with 94 stocks declining, 81 advancing, and 51 were unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the industrial and the mining and oil sectors bucked the trend.

The local equities initially dropped to as low as 7,077.59 during Monday's session before buying picked up.

"Participants glide with Wall Street's bearish tone but declines were limited by hopes for stimulus measure that might be adopted by ASEAN leaders during their summit this week," online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in its daily stock market comment.

The Dow Jones industrial average index dived by as much as 315 points, while the Nasdaq Composite was down by 54 points.

"Even as fundamentals and external stories will continue to impart influences to trade decision making, a good start to the week may set up a far better week for investors," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

On average, Calaycay said the third week of December pulls a 1. 9 percent gain out of its hat unless some unexpected negative news surfaces through the period.

"This brings up the prospects of a restoration of the 7,300- line and even a possible final attempt at the 7400-mark. It all depends on whether Santa and his reindeers won't get stuck in Christmas traffic," Calaycay said.

2TradeAsia.com advises investors to seize on dips to gradually position in winning counters for 2015.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These were BDO Unibank, Inc., Ayala Corp., and Bloomberry Resorts Corp.