October 27, 2006
Updated 14:26:16 (Mla time)
(UPDATE) SHARE prices closed firmer for the seventh straight day, buoyed by optimism that corporate earnings will remain strong as the economy sustains its growth this year, pushing the benchmark index to a new high in over nine years, dealers said.
They said the positive sentiment spilled into the currency market, with the peso jumping to its strongest level in about four and a half years in morning trade, supported by remittances from Filipinos working abroad and foreign funds which are finding their way into local stocks.
At the close, the 30-company composite index was up 19.43 points or 0.72 percent at 2,702.37, a tad off its day-high of 2,703.01. It hit a low of 2,682.94. The index gained 3.25 percent for the week.
It was the index's best finish since July 14, 1997 when it settled at 2,710.73.
The broader all-share index rose 12.41 points to 1,663.65.
Gainers led losers 64 to 40, while 60 stocks ended unchanged.
A total of 2.67 billion shares changed hands worth P3.72 billion.
The peso averaged P49.799 to the dollar at noon break.
"Investors are now looking beyond the third-quarter corporate results. I think full-year earnings are also being priced in this early," Summit Securities president Harry Liu said, noting that the market has already hit the year-end targets set by several brokerages.
"We've been expecting a pullback given the strong run-up in the past few days, but the momentum has not fizzled out," he added.
Before the market opened, the National Statistics Office announced that merchandise imports in August rose 15.3 percent from a year earlier to $4.886 billion, an indication that exports may sustain their double-digit growth in the coming months.
The bulk of the country's imports are raw materials for export products, which are mostly electronics.
The government is confident that the economy will expand between 5.5 percent and 6.1 percent this year, supported by brisk exports, which grew 16.9 percent year-on-year to $30.958 billion in the first eight months of the year.
Property developer Megaworld Corp., the most actively traded stock, rose P0.10 or 4.59 percent to 2.28 on hefty volume of 294.48 million shares which included cross transactions.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which expects to announce better net profit for the third quarter due to a stronger peso, edged up P25.00 to P2,310. PLDT will release its results for the three months to September on Nov. 7.
Ayala Land Inc., which will also announce its quarterly results early next month, was up P0.50 at P15.50.
Food and beverage firm San Miguel Corp.'s A and B shares closed flat at P66.50 and P74.00, respectively.
http://services.inq7.net/express/06/10/28/html_output/xmlhtml/20061027-29074-xml.html
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