Stocks lost their initial rally after the Philippines announced good growth figures as the main index closed with slim gains on Thursday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index ended 9.28 points higher to end at 7, 332.64. It surged more than 30 points after the Philippine Statistics Authority said the country’s full year gross domestic product grew 6.8 percent after reporting a 6.6 percent growth in the fourth quarter,

Volume rose from the previous session. Turnover reached 2.7 billion worth P7.2 billion compared to Wednesday’s 930.11 million shares valued at P5.46 billion.

Foreign selling amounted to P2.57 billion while foreign buying was recorded at P3.63 billion.

The peso surged to P49.65 after the growth numbers but ended the day at P49 805 from Wednesday’s P49.81 at the Philippine Dealing System. Volume was $452.4 million from $377.50 on Wednesday. DMS.