MIXED ANEW. The main equities index rises again on Wednesday (Oct. 19, 2022) on optimism ahead of the reporting season for listed firms in the US. However, the peso depreciated against the US dollar due in part to the deficit in the country's balance of payment (BOP) position last September at USD2.3 billion. (PNA graphics)
MANILA – The rise of the local stock barometer continued on Wednesday still due to bargain hunting but the peso weakened against the greenback.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 0.32 percent, or 19.67 points, to 6,148.31 points.
All Shares followed with a jump of 0.40 percent, or 13.11 points, to 3,266.62 points.
Most of the sectoral indices also gained during the day, namely Services, 1.50 percent; Industrial, 0.91 percent; Holding Firms, 0.26 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.09 percent.
On the other hand, Property declined by 0.54 percent and Financials by 0.16 percent.
Volume remained thin at 379.72 million shares amounting to PHP4.15 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 94 to 87 while 44 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales, said appetite is up ahead of the third quarter earnings report season.
“Recession fears and aggressive central banks have dragged U.S. markets to their lows, but the solid run to earnings season stateside may signal that the economy is currently on better footing than feared,” he said.
Limlingan said investors are also awaiting the release of the housing reports along with the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which is the central bank’s report on the current economic situation in the US.
Meanwhile, the local currency weakened to 58.945 to a US dollar from its 58.75 close a day ago.
It opened the trade at 58.85, sideways from its 58.9 start on Tuesday
It ranged between 58.99 and 58.8, resulting in an average of 58.887.
Volume reached USD654 million, higher than the previous session’s USD610.8 million.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort traced the peso’s weakness partly to the deficit in the country’s balance of payment (BOP) position last September at USD2.3 billion.
He said the latest BOP figure is the widest in four years or since September 2018 due to record-high net imports, payments of foreign currency-denominated debts by the national government, and the foreign exchange operations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
In the first nine months this year, the BOP position, which is the sum of a country's total transactions with the rest of the world in a given period, is at a deficit of USD7.8 billion, higher than year-ago's USD665 million deficit.
Ricafort said hawkish statements from Federal Reserve officials, this time from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who said that the Fed cannot stop its tightening moves even if the funds rates reached 4.5-4.75 percent unless core inflation in the US has stopped its rise.
He forecasts the peso to trade between 58.88-59.00 to a US dollar on Thursday. (PNA)
