Philippine bourse closes up as investors await U.S. job data

The Philippine stock market finished Friday's sessions with marginal gains as investors await U.S. job data.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 0.23 percent or 18.06 points to 7,771.52, while the broader all-share index managed to steal 5.14-point gain or 0.11 percent higher from Thursday's close to settle at 4,713.90.

Trading volume reached 10.17 billion shares worth 11.32 billion Philippine pesos (239.78 million U.S. dollars) with 104 stocks advancing, 86 declining, and 40 were unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the industrial and the mining and oil sector bucked the trend.

"The local market traded sideways as players await on the release of U.S. jobs report," online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said.

The data is due to be released on Friday and economists are forecasting U.S. employers to add 175,000 in June versus 38,000 added in the previous month.

"We might see the local mart going back to gains if the jobs report showed better-than-expected additions," it said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. Investors picked up shares of Ayala Land, Inc., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Endit