MANIILA – Philippines’ main stocks index shed anew on Wednesday due to inflation fears and the local currency weakened against the US dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 0.92 percent, or 62.47 points, to 6,712.21 points.
All Shares followed with a jump of 0.47 percent, or 17.13 points, to 3,589.78 points.
Most of the sectoral indices also declined during the day namely Financials, 1.51 percent; Industrial; 1.47 percent; Services, 1.07 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.59 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil rose by 0.95 percent and Property, 0.20 percent.
Volume was thin at 659.26 million shares amounting to PHP5.98 billion.
Decliners surpassed advancers at 108 to 76 while 46 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares closed the session in the red, underscoring fears that high inflation is weighing on economic growth,” Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales, said.
This, after rate of price increases in the euro zone posted a record-high of 8.1 percent in May, the seventh consecutive month of acceleration.
Limlingan also noted the rise in oil prices after EU agreed to ban most crude oil supply from Russia.
He said price of Brent crude oil rose by 1.4 percent to around USD123.37 per barrel.
“Oil prices climbed Tuesday after the European Union moved to cut off Russian crude, raising the specter of even higher gasoline prices and intensifying economic reverberations for both consumers and the White House,” he said.
Relatively, the local currency depreciated against the US dollar after it ended the day at 52.48 from 52.37 close on Tuesday.
It opened the day at 52.43 and traded between 52.49 and 52.42. Average level for the day stood at 52.46.
Volume reached USD724.22 million, lower than the previous session’s USD925.62 million. (PNA)
