PH stocks rise anew on Wall St gains

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Local stocks rose anew Thursday, June 27, following huge gains on Wall Street, on hints the US Federal Reserve would not reel in its stimulus program soon.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index settled at 6,328.00, up 209.06 points or 3.42% from Wednesday's close of 6,118.94.

The broader all-share index went up 117.94 points or 3.14% to 3,877.61.

All sectoral indices were in the positive territory, led by the holding firms sector, which jumped 4.15%.

Gainers outnumbered losers, 139 to 37, while 32 stocks were unchanged.

A total of 3.57 billion shares worth P12.12 billion were traded so far.

Regional markets rose after the US Commerce Department slashed its first-quarter growth estimate for the world's biggest economy to 1.8% from 2.4%.

The downward revision raised the prospect that the Fed would sit tight on winding down its bond-buying scheme, known as quantitative easing, as it waits for the economy to show more signs of strength.

Overnight, the Dow jumped 1.02%, the S&P 500 rose 0.96% and the Nasdaq added 0.85%. - Rappler.com, with a report from Agence France-Presse