Dow rally boosts local share prices

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine stock market managed to climb yesterday, boosted largely by the Dow Jones’ 293-point rally.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) recovered from Wednesday’s beating, closing 26.30 points higher at  7,098.76, while the broader All Shares index finished at 4,054.13, up 16.30 points from Wednesday’s level.

The rebound in Wall Street lifted Asian stocks, analysts said.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed higher by 293.03 points, or 1.8 percent, to 16,351.38 after falling more than 470 points the day before. Similarly, the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 35.01 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,948.86 while the Nasdaq composite rose 113.87 points, or 2.5 percent, 4,749.98.

“With US stocks rebounding and mild gains from European markets, we could see some wind keeping Asian equities airborne today,” said Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Group.

The best performers included port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures, while the worst performers were Ayala Land, Energy Development Corp. and SM Prime.

Value turnover stood at P6.41 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners 110 to 59 while 40 stocks were unchanged.