MANILA – Combination of latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rate decision and economic news from the US resulted in the negative close of both the main stocks gauge and the peso on Friday.
The main gauge shed 0.26 percent, or 18.77 points, to 7,280.57 points.
All Shares declined by 1.41 percent, or 55.59 points, to 3,878.11 points.
Most of the sectoral indexes also finished the trade in the negative territory with the Mining and Oil declining by 2.84 percent; Financials and Holding Firms, both down by 0.66 percent; and Industrial, 0.03 percent.
On the other hand, Property rose by 0.35 percent and Services by 0.08 percent.
Volume rose to 2.11 billion shares amounting to PHP22.07 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 127 to 66, while 49 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares fell as investors digested the latest statement from the BSP, earnings reports from US retailers and an update on the employment market,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales.
Citing statements by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials on Thursday, Limlingan underscored monetary authorities’ bid to maintain the accommodative policy stance to support the domestic economy’s recovery.
On Thursday, the BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) kept the central bank’s key rates steady after noting that while domestic growth shows continued recovery, it remains fragile.
In the US, initial filings for unemployment insurance dropped to 268,000 for the week ending November 13, from 269,000 claims in the previous week.
Limlingan said this level is the lowest since March last year, and is the seventh consecutive week of decline.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort attributed the negative close of the PSEi for the week partly to profit-taking.
He also cited investors’ concerns on another uptick of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections in some European countries, the elevated inflation rate globally, as well as new share sales and bond issuances in the local market until the end of the year.
“Some election-related leads could have also triggered the recent healthy profit-taking in the local stock market, PSEi, which is nevertheless still hovering among 10-month highs and still near pre-pandemic highs (since February 2020),” he said.
Ricafort forecasts the PSEi’s next immediate support level at between 7,200-7,210 levels.
Meanwhile, the peso depreciated to 50.41 against the US dollar from 50.23 a day ago.
It opened the day at 50.27, sideways from its 50.33 start on Thursday.
It traded between 50.43 and 50.21, resulting in an average of 50.332.
Volume reached USD1.19 billion, lower than the previous session’s USD1.27 billion. (PNA)
