PHL share prices open firm on 'successful' elections; PSEi at new intraday high

Philippine shares opened slightly up in early morning trade Tuesday on the back of what the market perceived as a successful midterm elections on Monday. "We're slightly up today due to successful elections," Manny Cruz, market strategist at Asiasec Equities Inc. told GMA News Online. "Government now has a hold of Senate, making it easier to push its programs," he added. The main PSEi added 12.35 points or 0.17 percent to 7,274.49—an intraday record—as of 10:36 a.m. Monday night, the military described the May 13 midterm elections as “generally peaceful and greatly successful” although there were isolated cases of violence which—however— did not disrupt the electoral process. Commission on Elections chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Monday also said around 70 percent of voter turnout is expected in this year’s elections and hopes to proclaim 12 winners of the senatorial race by Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Brillantes said problems on precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines were only minor, reaching about 200 of 78,000 PCOS machines will be replaced due to technical problems compared to the 400 of 76,000 PCOS machines in 2010. Arlysa Narciso, analyst at AB Capital Securities Inc., said the market largely moved on local factors, particularly the local elections. "The US market closed flat versus high gains last week. There were also indicators from Europe and China but those did not hold strong in the market," she said in a separate interview. — VS, GMA News