Traders yesterday said that San Miguel Corp. supported its brewery unit’s debut buying shares to stabilize prices.

The SMB price dipped below the offer price of P8 per share to P7.90, this was pushed up by what traders said as "active buying of one of its underwriters".

Meanwhile, most Southeast Asian markets rose yesterday with Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index up 0.57 percent . Dealers said the earthquake in China had little impact on stock prices of Chinese companies listed in Singapore

Malaysian stocks gained 0.61 percent, Indonesian shares climbed 0.13 percent and Philippine stocks rose 0.87 percent. Bucking the trend, Thailand’s benchmark index fell 0.53 percent while Vietnam stocks ended 1.66 percent down to a near two-year low.

Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange reached 2.29 billion shares for P8.88 billion, including a P6.47 billion IPO of San Miguel Brewery Inc. Corp., facilitated by ATR Kim Eng Securities, Inc.

Market analyst meanwhile remained unconvinced about the market’s health despite a four-session hike by the index which they say is due to a technical bounce as most stocks were down in the oversold level after several weeks of continued sell down.

"It can be said that traders are currently taking advantage of the low stock prices in the financial sector amidst the problem in the financial industry," AB Capital SEcurities, Inc. research head Jose L. Vistan, Jr. said.

"We are still at the mercy of foreign funds," said Francisco Liboro, PCCI Securities, Inc. president added.

Vistan said that technical indicators showed the daily stock market formed a consolidation around the 2, 750 level.

"After recovering from the inflation shock, the chart showed a breakout from that consolidation starting last Friday and today, the PSEi was able to reach 2,800 points. With this increase in points, there is potential in the market as there was also an increase in market activity based on the volume of today’s trade, which reached 2.5-Billion. Usually, when there is a breakout from a consolidation, the market continually moves in a singular direction. Today, however, there is an increasing trend after breaking out from the recent consolidation. Based on recent data, the trend looks promising," he said.

Liboro meanwhile said added that "there were also some fundamental factors involved" in the market’s appreciation, though it remains weak and the market’s rally still needs to be confirmed.

"Although there are some fundamental behind (the rally), it is still hard to say. Techinical indicators are suggesting that we are on a technical rally. We may test the range between 2,820 to 2,830," he said.

Liboro said, "corporate valuations are showing that some stocks are cheaper at their current prices even in relation to the US market."