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PH equities index dips but peso finishes sideways

By Joann Villanueva

October 6, 2022, 9:35 pm

MANILA – The Philippines’ main equities index reversed its course and finished in the red Thursday but the peso kept its footing against the US dollar.

After gaining for several days, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dipped by 0.91 percent, or 54.32 points, to 5,934.27 points.

All Shares followed with a drop of 0.63 percent, or 20.19 points, to 3,199.79 points.

The majority of the sectoral gauges also ended the day lower – Industrial, 2.11 percent; Holding Firms, 1.61 percent; Financials, 0.36 percent; Property, 0.29 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.09 percent.

Only the Services index gained during the day after it rose by 0.73 percent.

Volume remained thin at 387.3 million shares amounting to PHP4.2 billion.

Decliners led advancers at 103 to 84 while 41 shares were unchanged.

“Philippine shares were sold down at closing as investors kept tabs on economic data to see if inflation is cooling off or if the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes are pushing the US closer to a recession,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.

Citing reports, he said job creation in the US in September remained strong with 208,000 hired by the private sector.

On the local front, he said the acceleration of the inflation rate last September to its four-year high of 6.9 percent year-on-year made investors forecast another hike in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) key rates.

Oil prices also inched up anew after oil-producing countries under OPEC+ decided to slash production by two million barrels per day.

The futures of Brent crude oil increased by 1.1 percent to USD92.82 per barrel and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by 1 percent to USD87.37 per barrel.

On the other hand, the local currency finished the day sideways to the greenback at 58.653 from 58.65 the previous day.

It opened the day at 58.7, weaker than the previous session’s 58.6.

It traded between 58.73 and 58.54, resulting in an average of 58.624.

Volume declined to USD756.05 million from USD861.15 million the previous day. (PNA)

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