Roundup: Philippine bourse closes up on extended bargain hunting

The Philippine stock market extended its rally on Thursday on extended bargain hunting.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.86 percent or 56.16 points to 6,563.38, while the broader all-share index rose by 0.78 percent or 28.95 points to 3,751.35.

Trading volume reached 1.09 billion shares worth 7.49 billion Philippine pesos (156.41 million U.S. dollars) with 122 stocks advancing, 61 declining, and 31 were unchanged.

All six counters were up.

Online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said investors initially took their cue from the three-digit drop of the U.S. equities.

The Dow Jones industrial average shed 222 points on Wednesday.

"Investors sold on the news of a lowered likelihood of a U.S. interest rate hike in March, unwinding the positions taken during the run-up to the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting," it said.

As a result, the index touched an intra-day low of 6,447.61 points due to profit taking.

This however has attracted some investors who braved the local equities, pulling the equities higher by the final bell.

In the meantime, 2TradeAsia.com said it is putting the local equities' immediate support at 6,330.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These include SM Prime Holdings, Inc., Ayala Land, Inc., and Alliance Global Group, Inc. Endit