Stocks closed higher on Thursday, as the Philippine Stock Exchange index finished 40.47 points up at 7,563.45.

At the broader market, there were 96 decliners and 94 gainers, with 43 unchanged.

Volume reached one billion shares valued at P5.94 billion. Foreigners remained sellers with P3.23 billion compared to buying of P2.89 billion.

Most active shares were BDO Unibank, down 0.92 percent to P118, Megaworld Corp. up 1.75 percent to P4.07 and SM Investments Corp. up 1.05 percent to P718.50

The peso closed for the fourth day, settling at P49.83 from Wednesday’s P49.725. Volume at the Philippine Dealing System rose to $582.30 million from the previous day’s $436. 5 million. DMS