MANILA, March 27 -- The local bourse gained 5.36 points on last-minute bargain hunting while the peso moved sideways during trading on Wednesday, the last trading day before the Holy Week holidays.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at 6,903.53 while All Shares also gained 8.96 points to close at 3,607.51.

"The local bourse gained by 5.36 points (0.08%) to 6,903.53 on last-minute bargain hunting," Philstocks Financial Inc. analyst Claire Alviar said.

"The market mostly traded in the red following the negative cues from the US markets overnight, while maintaining a cautious stance ahead of the long weekend. But still, investors took the chance to buy at bargain levels," Alviar said.

Most sectors were in the red, with the Servic...