MANILA, Philippines - Philippine shares rose to a record on Wednesday on speculation the central bank will cut interest rates tomorrow. JG Summit Holdings, Ayala Land Inc. and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. led the advance.

The PSE Index rose 34.86, or 0.8 percent, to close 4677.62.

PCCI Securities President Francisco Liboro said he expects the Bangko Sentral to cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, though inflation may be a concern because of rising fuel prices.

He also said Philippine stocks may no longer be cheap compared with others in the region.

Macquarie research head Alex Pomento said he thinks the central bank won’t cut rates, even if other market participants expect a cut. He said rates are already low, giving the BSP the luxury of calibrating its response to rising fuel prices. But he said he expects stocks to extend gains even without a rate cut.

Luz Lorenzo of ATR KimEng said successful bond auctions in Europe, despite ratings cuts in France and Austria, are boosting risk appetite and the flow of funds into Philippine stocks.

Petron slumped 15 percent to P11.32 after it said its pension fund is selling 695.3 million shares, about 7 percent, at P11 each, or P7.6 billion.