TRADING STRONGER. The local stock barometer surges Wednesday (April 20, 2022) on the back of stronger than expected US corporate earnings. The Philippine peso closed almost unchanged.
MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended Wednesday’s trading stronger, while the local currency traded sideways.
The PSEi closed the day’s trading higher by 1.49 percent, or 104.68 points, to 7,142.42.
All shares also rose by 0.91 percent to 3,777.13, up by 34.21 points, from Tuesday.
Except for Mining and Oil, the rest of the counters gained on this day’s trading, with improvements from 0.31 percent to as high as 2.88 percent.
The biggest gainer was the Property sector, which rose 93.15 points to 3,333.31.
This was followed by Holding Firms, up by 73.41 points to 6,651.78; Industrial, up by 29.93 points to 9,718.16; Financials, up by 20.69 points to 1,679.48; and Services, up by 17.23 points to 1,990.51.
On the other hand, the Mining and Oil sector declined by 0.46 percent, or 57.33 points, to 12,489.67.
“Philippine shares surged on the back of stronger than expected US corporate earnings, but bleak forecasts on global economic growth pushed up bond yields and drove down oil,” Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales Luis Limlingan said.
Limlingan said global oil prices declined by 5 percent amid volatile trading after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its economic growth outlook on the back of higher inflation.
“Meanwhile, the IMF raised its 2022 Philippine GDP (gross domestic product) projection to 6.5 percent from 6.3 percent previously but remained below DBCC's (Development and Budget Coordination Committee) target of 7 to 9 percent, citing the Ukraine-Russia war clouding the global economic outlook,” he added.
Total volume traded on Wednesday reached 799.6 million shares amounting to PHP4.82 billion.
Gainers outnumbered decliners at 98 to 78, while 54 remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Philippine peso continued to slide as it ended at 52.49 Wednesday from 52.46 during last day’s trading.
It opened the day weak at 52.44 from 52.35 on Tuesday, and traded between 52.42 and 52.49.
Average level for this day’s trading pegged at 52.45.
A total of USD895.8 million were traded on Wednesday, lower than the previous day’s volume of USD1.09 billion. (PNA)
