LEAD: Philippine market begins whole-day trading to boost investment

Jan 2, 2012, 8:45 GMT

Manila - The Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday extended its trading hours to the whole day to attract more investors but ended flat on the first trading day of the year.

The exchange's 30-share composite index added 25.12 points, or 0.57 per cent, to finish at 4,397.08. Gainers led losers 95 to 47 while 43 issues were unchanged.

Under the new schedule, the market is now open for trading until 3:30 pm (0730 GMT). It initially extended trading to 1 pm in October. Prior to that, the bourse was open for two and a half hours per day, beginning at 9:30 am.

'With the longer window of opportunity, we hope to attract more investors, especially foreigners,' said Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Holdings Inc, an investment and trading company.

More than 846 million shares were traded Monday, down from 1.44 billion shares on December 29, the last trading day of 2011. Value turnover was also down to 1.76 billion pesos (41 million dollars) from 4.59 billion pesos.

Del Castillo said the lower turnover was expected because investors were still in a 'holiday mood.'

'Investors are also just positioning for 2012, so the market is still flat,' he said.

The Philippine bourse was Asia's best-performing market last year, gaining 4.07 per cent. It remained one of the smallest markets in terms of capital, Castillo said.