PHL stocks close higher on ‘alternating ups and downs’

Shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange closed higher Monday, following Friday’s 137-4point drop as the market tracks a phase of “alternating ups and downs.   “It is a very wide range… but what we could see is that this [current trend follows] six successive days of declines, with the market’s relative bottom at 4,850,” said analyst Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities Corp.   “What the market is telling us right now is that there is a mix of opinions,” said Calaycay.   Others believe that prices have been deflated so much the next play should be in line... The other school of thought continues to entertain the fear that the European debt crisis will still pull the market lower, Calaycay added.   The main PSEi gained 74.58 points or 1.53 percent to 4,954 at the close.   More than 2.830 billion shares valued at P6.012 billion changed hands.   Winners led losers 103 to 42, while 40 issues closed unchanged.   Still, there was a bit of optimism that the European financial crisis would be resolved and people were expecting the US market to make some gains tonight, said trader Jasper Jimenez of BDO Securities Inc.   Most earnings have already been discounted and the market is up for a new cycle to begin, waiting for the first quarter economic data and how the second quarter will fare for the market, Accord Capital’s Calaycay noted.   With the situation in Europe, the Philippine market’s reaction is largely “emotional” because the Philippines hardly has any exposure to the European financial system, he said.   With the gains investors made so far this year from Philippine equities, it is understandable that they are tempted to lock in their profits, Calaycay added. —GMA News