| By Luzi Ann Javier |
| Bloomberg |
| |
| PHILIPPINE stocks rebounded as investors judged Wednesday’s plunge, the biggest in nine years, excessive. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) led gains. Philippine money supply growth quickened for a fifth month in January on higher investment, lending and remittances from Filipinos working abroad, the central bank said Wednesday. “This helps boost investor confidence,” said Marvin Fausto, who helps manage $1.7 billion in assets at Equitable PCI Bank in The Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped 122.67 points, or 4 percent, to 3190.12 at the close, the biggest one-day gain since June 30. The measure dropped 7.9 percent Wednesday on speculation a global equities selloff will weaken investors’ appetite for emerging-market assets. PLDT, which slumped 9 percent Wednesday, rose P100, or 4.3 percent to P2,420. Bank of the Philippine Islands, the most profitable lender, gained P5, or 8 percent, to P67, after plunging 8.8 percent Wednesday. SM Investments Corp., the nation’s third-largest company by market value, gained P12.50, or 3.6 percent, to P365, after a 6-percent loss Wednesday. Ayala Corp., owner of the nation’s largest builder, advanced P10, or 1.8 percent, to P570, after a 7.4-percent drop Wednesday. Asian markets fell the most in eight months Wednesday, extending a rout in global equities that started in Better prepared? THE Philippine stock market is now better prepared to handle volatility, given “the better valuations of companies and a stronger economic fundamental base,” Fausto said. “The market is deeper now, the volume of trades much bigger than back in 1997, when we were hit by the Asian financial crisis.” The $117 billion Southeast Asian economy expanded 5.4 percent in 2006 from a year earlier. The yield on the 91-day Treasury bill, used by banks as a benchmark in pricing loans, fell to a record 2.885 percent at auction on February 19. |
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0302&032007/companies01.html
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