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LOCAL share prices closed higher Wednesday, its
biggest single-day gain in 10 weeks, on the back of an overnight
rally on Wall Street, dealers said.
The composite index rose 78.48
points to 3,048.31, its best finish since March 6 when it settled at
3,116.84.
It was the market’s biggest
single-day gain since January 25, when the key index rose almost 90
points or 2.9 percent.
The all-share index rose 40.16
points to 1,861.20.
There were 88 advancers and 26
decliners, while 45 were steady.
Turnover improved to P3.5 billion
from Tuesday’s P2.8 billion.
The peso traded at 41.5 to the
dollar.
“We’re starting to see some
light at the end of the tunnel for this market turmoil. We’re also
back above the psychological level of 3,000 points and that’s
adding to the market’s confidence,” said Astro del Castillo of
First Grade Holdings.
All US benchmarks rose on Tuesday
after Lehman Brothers and UBS successfully sold new shares to
bolster battered balance sheets, which raised hopes that the worst
of the credit crunch has passed.
In the local market, the day’s
gains were broad-based and reflected the positive sentiment across
Asia, despite forecasts of a slower growth this year.
The Asian Development Bank said
growth in Asian economies excluding Japan was expected to ease to an
average 7.6 percent in 2008—the slowest in five years—with
rising food and energy prices pushing inflation in the region to the
highest level in a decade.
Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Co. rose 1.3 percent at P2,810 while Ayala Corp. jumped
7.0 percent to P420.
San Miguel A rose 1.1 percent to
P46. Its B shares also gained 1.1 percent at P47.
--AFP
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