Stocks trek 1.24% higher on corporate developments

By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange trekked higher on Thursday buoyed by the robust performance of index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

At the end of the session, the PSE index stood at 3,077.78, higher by 37.85 points or 1.24 percent—its intraday peak.

Shares of PLDT rose by P50 to end at P2,690 marking its third consecutive day in positive territory.
However, the stock was only fifth on the bourse’s list of most active counters which was led by the Energy Development Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

Trading volume on MPIC—a holding firm owned by PLDT’s same parent, Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd.—rose sharply after it unveiled a plan to increase its free float to 15 percent from the present level of 2 percent.

Trading volume for the entire bourse was higher with 3.38 billion shares changing hands, worth P2.54 billion.  Click here to read more...