Jobs growth inspires buys

Bargain hunting spurred by the optimistic spillovers from Wall Street and the further improvements in domestic labor market figures drove the capital market recovery on Thursday.

The bourse ended yesterday's trading higher by 39.66 points or 0.61 percent to 6,593.74.

However, net value turnover was at only P4.85 billion, still below the year-to-date average of P6.23 billion. Foreigners were net sellers after five straight days of foreign buying.

"Investors were cheered as the employment rate for August stood at 94.8 percent, the highest for this year. However, ongoing headwinds including the peso's depreciation and recession risks offshore kept many investors on the sidelines, which resulted in weak trading for the day," Philstocks Financial Inc. researcher Mikhail Plopenio said.

Properties among top gainers

Among the sectors, properties led the gainers after it climbed 1.04 percent. The miners were at the tail end, dropping 0.52 percent. Decliners edged gainers 99 to 88.

Wilcon Depot Inc. was the leading index gainer, advancing 6.03 percent to P29.90. Puregold Price Club Inc. was at the bottom, dropping 2.75 percent to P33.60.

Luis Limlingan, Head of Sales at the Regina Capital Development Corp. said the rebound of local shares was also driven by the slower inflation rate due to the slightly easing oil prices.

Oil tumbled to seven-month lows on demand fears due to looming recession risks and downbeat Chinese trade data.

Brent crude ended at $88 per barrel, 5.2 percent lower, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at $81.94/bbl, down by 5.69 percent.