[maxfreemann]

Bomb scare at Manila stock exchange a false alarm

MANILA | Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:52am EDT

MANILA (Reuters) - Trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) was set to resume on Thursday afternoon after a police said no bomb had been found in a search of the 35-storey office tower housing the bourse following a bomb threat. Workers were allowed to return to their offices in the Makati City building about two hours after being evacuated when a stock exchange employee received a bomb threat in a telephone call.

Trading would resume at 1 p.m. (1 a.m. ET) for one hour, the PSE said. Normal trading hours at 9:30 a.m. to noon. "We have cleared the tower and our teams are scouring the surroundings," said Jose Delos Santos, police chief for the southern district of metro Manila. "We would like to believe that it was a prank call but we take this as a serious matter." The main stock index, which hit a record high of 4,253.75 on Oct 11, was up 1.3 percent at 4,245.61 when trade was halted. The index is up 39 percent this year.

(Reporting by Erik dela Cruz; Editing by John Mair)