Roundup: Philippine bourse close higher on a brighter note for market

The Philippine stock market managed to close at a new record high Wednesday despite the selling pressure that pulled the U.S. and some Asian equities.

The local barometer Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 0.40 percent or 30.61 points to 7,661.18, while the broader all-share index gained 0.32 percent or 14.12 points to 4,454.78.

Trading volume reached 1.81 billion shares worth 10.45 billion pesos (237.87 million U.S. dollars) with 94 stocks declining, 78 advancing and 48 were unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the financial sector bucked the trend.

"The PSEi struggled the rest of the way eventually caving in to selling pressure just under an hour to the close. But the resiliency of the bourse showed up to save the day, sending the PSEi to its 6th all-time record," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

Concerns over the pace of the U.S recovery surfaced last night on the heels of disappointing durable goods orders and corporate earnings data. The world's largest economy is projected to grow between 2.5 percent and 3.1 percent this year.

"On a brighter note for the market, hints such as this tend to push the argument for an interest rate hike further down the road, " Calaycay said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve begins its two-day meeting later Wednesday with expectations neutral. The consensus view is that the regulator may begin to tweak rates higher by mid-year yet.

"As we approach the final sessions for the month of January, the market has given investors a lot to hope for this year," Calaycay said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These include the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Megaworld Corp. and SM Investments Corp. Endi