Share prices ended up Thursday tracking overseas leads.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index was up 18.37 points to 6,487.51, a 0.28 percent hike.
The broader all shares index was up 10.6 points to 3,967.96, a 0.26 percent hike.
Gainers edged losers 107 to 92 with 45 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P4.73 billion.
The peso closed at 48.315 to the dollar, up from 48.477 Thursday.
The currency opened at 48.45, an intra-day low and hit a high of 48.29. Trading turnover reached $837.5 million.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said it was the US Federal Reserve decision that drove the market to end up.
“The FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) left the funds rate target range unchanged at 0—0.25 percent at the April meeting. The committee updated the post-meeting statement to acknowledge that economic activity had ‘strengthened’ and downgraded their assessment of risks, writing that ‘risks to the economic outlook remain’ versus that there were ‘considerable risks’ in the March statement. In addition, investors are continuing their rebalancing ahead of the month end window dressing and the released of more corporate earnings,” Limlingan said.
Most actively traded Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.15 to P32.90. AC Energy Corp. was down P0.25 to P6.75. SM Investments Corp. was down P22 to P968. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P0.10 to P106. Megaworld Corp. was up P0.01 to P3.14. Ayala Corp. was down P2 to P768.
Robinsons Retail Holdings Corp. was steady at P51.90. SMPrime Holdings Inc. was up P0.50 to P35.90. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P1.50 to P35.90. Universal Robina Corp. was steady at P137.
