(PNA file photo)
MANILA – The local bourse’s main index recovered on Friday after the slower-than-projected inflation rate in the US in October 2022 and the peso improved towards the 57-level.
After several days of decline, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 1.93 percent, or 119.20 points, to 6,286.77 points.
All the other counters also gained during the day, with All Shares up by 1.56 percent, or 51.23 points, to 3,328.89 points.
Holding Firms led the sectoral gauges after it jumped by 2.74 percent, followed by Property, 2.73 percent; Mining and Oil, 2.03 percent; Industrial, 1.22 percent; Financials, 1.01 percent; and Services, 0.71 percent.
Volume reached 441.04 million shares amounting to PHP4.92 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 125 to 58 while 40 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine stocks rallied, fueled by a better-than-feared US inflation print, giving investors the idea that the overall prices of goods may be cooling,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.
The US consumer price index (CPI) in the 10th month of the year rose by 0.4 percent every month and 7.7 percent year on year, slower than the previous month’s 8.2 percent.
Limlingan said sentiments were also boosted by the higher-than-expected growth of the domestic economy in the third quarter of the year, which the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday to be at 7. 6 percent, faster than the previous quarter's upwardly revised 7.5 percent.
The local currency also gained against the US dollar and closed the day at 57.23 from 58.19 a day ago.
It opened the day at 57.4 and traded between 57.59 and 57.14, averaging 57.35.
Volume reached USD820.15 million, higher than the USD792 million on Thursday.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort, in a report, said the local currency finished the day’s trade at its strongest since Sept. 15, 2022, when it closed at 57.16.
Aside from the positive inflation developments in the US, he said, the local currency also benefited from the sharp decline of the US dollar overnight after China decided to ease the quarantine period for inward travelers from 10 days to eight days and scrapped flight bans.
“Global crude oil prices still lingering among nine-month lows recently still partly supported sentiment on the peso and the rest of the local financial markets,” he said.
Ricafort said the latest domestic output report for the Philippines, as well as positive foreign direct investment (FDI) data, also lifted sentiments.
“The relatively stable peso exchange rate also brought about by signals/reiterations recently on local policy rate hikes of as much as +0.75 on the next rate-setting meeting on Nov. 17, 2022,” he said, referring to the meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policy-making Monetary Board.
For next week, he forecast the peso to trade between 56.75 and 57.75 to the US dollar. (PNA)
