MANILA, March 23 (PNA) — Philippine share prices sustained its win streak for a third day on Monday following the United States’ equities rally.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index advanced 22.11 points to 7,840.49 from Friday’s 7,818.38 close.
In an interview, Harry Liu, president of Summit Securities Inc., said the regional markets tracked the U.S. gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial average index and the S&P 500 index closed 0.9 percent higher.
“Around the corner is the prospect of a rally on the basis on traditional quarter-end window dressing. Before that, the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) will decide on key interest rates where expectations are leaning towards a hold of current policy settings,” said Jun Calaycay, analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.
But Liu expects the local bourse to move in a “sideways behavior” as part of the market’s consolidation.
He said investors are gearing up for the Holy Week holiday and the tax return filing season next month.
Almost all counters were in positive territory.
Only the industrial and property sectors bucked the trend, declining slightly.
A total of 1.02 billion shares valued at PHP8.83 billion changed hands.
Advancers won decliners, 91 to 81, while 51 issues were unchanged.
The day’s top active stocks were led by SM Investments Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, GT Capital Holdings Inc. and Megaworld Corp. (PNA)