WEAK PERFORMANCE. Expectations for further tightening of monetary policies both here and abroad result in the negative finish of the local stock barometer and the slide of the peso against the US dollar on Friday (July 15, 2022). An analyst said negative earnings reports of some listed firms in the US also contributed to the weak performance of the main equities index.
MANILA – Worries on further tightening of monetary policies contributed to the negative close of the local bourse’s main index on Friday and the slide of the peso against the US dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 0.85 percent, or 52.87 points, to 6,195.26 points.
All Shares also ended in the negative territory after it declined by 0.63 percent, or 21.27 points, to 3,345.73 points.
Majority of the sectoral gauges also declined during the day, led by the Mining and Oil after it went down by 3.19 percent.
It was trailed by Services, 1.93 percent; Financials, 1.30 percent; Property, 1.11 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.60 percent.
Only the Industrial index gained during the day after it rose by 0.45 percent.
Volume remained thin at 784.99 million shares amounting to PHP5.64 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 124 to 70, while 44 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales, said weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings report of JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley partly swayed investors’ sentiment as earning reports season starts in the US.
“Investors also weighed the likelihood of larger interest rate hikes from the Fed (Federal Reserve) and looming recession concerns,” he said.
Limlingan said markets are projecting as much as 100 basis points increase in the Fed rates later this month.
This follows the total of 150 basis points jump in the Federal Funds Rates since last March as US monetary authorities address the accelerating consumer price index (CPI), which posted its highest since November 1981 when it rose to 9.1 percent last June.
Meanwhile, the local currency depreciated to 56.36, close to its 56.45 finish to a greenback on March 22, 2004, against the US dollar from its 56.15 close on Thursday.
It opened the day at 56.35 and traded between 56.44 and 56.315.
The average level for the day stood at 56.369.
Volume declined to USD678.3 million from day-ago’s USD1.66 billion. (PNA)
