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LOCAL share prices closed higher Monday with
investors returning to the market amid a sustained drop in crude oil
prices, dealers said.
The composite index added 28.09
points to 2,540.81. The all-share index rose 13.54 points to
1,594.43.
Forty-seven issues advanced, 33
declined and 48 were unchanged.
Turnover fell to P1.75 billion
from P1.9 billion on Friday.
The peso closed at 44.040 to the
dollar, hardly changed from last weekend’s 44.070 finish. Trading
volume eased to $506.500 million from $827.050 million previously.
“With inflation foremost on
investors’ minds right now, global oil prices will continue to
dictate the market’s direction,” Rommel Macapagal of Westlink
Global Equities told Dow Jones Newswires.
World oil prices turned higher in
Asian trade on Monday, but the market still faces signs of slowing
demand and rising supply, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light
sweet crude for September delivery, rose 45 cents to $123.71 a
barrel. It had hit record highs above $147 earlier in July.
Macapagal said investors were
looking ahead to what President Arroyo tells Congress and the nation
at her annual state of the Nation address later Monday.
“They eagerly await her plan to
tackle the inflation problem,” he added.
Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Co. rose 1.6 percent to P2,495, while unit Pilipino
Telephone Corp. added 5.2 percent to P8.10.
Property issue Megaworld Corp.
gained 1.4 percent to P1.46. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. rose
4.4 percent to P36. San Miguel Corp.’s B share jumped 3.5 percent
to P44, while its A shares were unchanged at P42.50.
--With AFP
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