MANILA - Philex Mining Corp. jumped 10.7% by midsession on Monday on heavy trading as persistent market talk on a looming battle for control of the Philippines' top miner fueled volatile trade.

Philex jumped as high as 12.5% to P15.75 (33.7 US cents) before cutting its gains to P15.5 by 0204 GMT. Value turnover in the stock was nearly a fourth of total market trades.

Last week, an official of Hong Kong's First Pacific Co. Ltd., which holds 22% of the gold and copper miner, said the investment firm wants to raise its stake in Philex to more than 30%.

But Philex posted lukewarm third quarter results late last week, which led to sharp falls on Friday and Monday.

Apart from First Pacific, San Miguel Corp. was reported to be interested in gaining a stake in Philex through allies. The First Pacific group and San Miguel are bitter rivals for control of another listed company Manila Electric Co.

Philex is up more than 257% so far this year, the third top gainer among the stocks comprising the main index, which was up 0.79% at 0209 GMT.