Share prices in the Philippine stock market closed higher across the board, with the main index rebounding from Wednesday's 7.9%, as investors took comfort in Wall Street's recovery overnight.
At the close, the 30-company composite index was up 122.67 points or 4.0 percent at 3,190.12, with 105 advancers and 22 decliners. The broader all-share index rose 67.15 points to 2,050.45.
Dealers said investors realized that Wednesday’s selloff was overdone and that the country's sound economic fundamentals remained intact, shielding the local equities market from external uncertainties.
"Yesterday's (Wednesday’s) slide was more of an overreaction to the selloffs in overseas markets. But it was also a healthy correction for the market," Westlink Global Equities chairman Rommel Macapagal said.
Elsewhere in the region, many markets including Japan slid further as the rebound on Wall Street was deemed weak, with some analysts saying that lackluster economic data in the US had raised doubts about the course of the US economy.
"We took our cue from Wall Street," Macapagal said, "and fundamentally, nothing has changed as far as our economy is concerned."
However, he said investors were likely to remain cautious in the coming days, keeping an eye on overseas markets, particularly the US and China.
– Excerpts from an article published March 1, 2007 on the Inquirer Money site (http://business.inquirer.net)
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