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PHILIPPINE share prices rose Wednesday to chalk up
another record finish with investors positive on the economic
outlook, dealers said.
The upswing in major Asian
markets and in New York overnight buoyed investor sentiment,
overshadowing concerns Manila may struggle to keep its budget gap
within target this year because of weak revenues, they added.
The composite index added 51.74
points at 3,718.88 after also setting a new intraday high of
3,721.26.
The all-share index jumped 35.30
points to 2,366.64.
There were 95 advancers and 39
decliners, while 38 stocks were unchanged.
A total of 6.64 billion shares
worth P6.38 billion changed hands.
Philippine Long Distance
Telephone (PLDT), the nation’s largest telecom firm and the
biggest in terms of market capitalization, jumped P45 to P2,685,
tracking gains in its American Depositary Receipts overnight.
“PLDT is sort of a proxy for
the Philippine economy. Foreign institutional investors are
maintaining their buy call on the Philippines given the country’s
solid fundamentals,” said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities.
“Technically the market is
overbought. But fundamentally, and given the strong inflows, we
expect the market to hit new highs in the coming sessions, and this
certainly is the perfect time for IPOs,” he added.
Two Philippine companies are
scheduled to launch their IPOs this month—Aboitiz Power and
Phoenix Petroleum—which together may raise around P12.5 billion.
Lim Su Sian, an economist at
Singapore-based DBS Bank, expects the Philippine economy to continue
expanding, by 5.5 percent this year and in 2008, from 5.4 percent in
2006.
“While it is too premature to
conclude that will be able to balance the budget by 2008 as
promised, steady revenue growth should nevertheless be sufficient to
keep the positive fiscal story in place, even if no upgrades in
ratings outlook have come through yet so far this year,” Lim
added.
--AFP
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