PROFIT-TAKING. Investors took profit on Thursday (Jan. 19, 2023), resulting in the decline of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi). The decline in the PSEi affected the peso but the latter was bouyed partly by the drop in US Treasury yield and the rise in the country's balance of payment surplus in December 2022. (File photo)
MANILA – The local bourse’s main index posted a correction on Thursday, partly on profit-taking, while the peso ended the day sideways, backed partly by expectations for lower hikes in the Federal Reserve's key rates.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.46 percent, or 32.85 points, to 7,062.01 points.
All Shares followed with a decline of 0.16 percent, or 5.83 points, to 3,686.68 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also ended in the red – Financials, 1.03 percent; Property, 0.54 percent; Industrial, 0.49 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.05 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil rose by 1.59 percent and Services by 0.17 percent.
Volume reached 1.87 billion shares amounting to PHP7.03 billion.
Gainers led losers at 107 to 83 while 53 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares weakened along with the rest of the region, due to some profit taking weighed by an earnings miss by Goldman Sachs,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.
Goldman Sachs earlier in the week reported a 69 percent decline in earnings in the last quarter of 2022, higher than expectations, due to lower deal-making gains, assets, and wealth management revenues.
Relatively, recession concerns resulted in a drop in oil prices in the world market despite the reopening of the Chinese economy.
Brent crude oil futures slipped by 1.1 percent to USD84.98 per barrel and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by 0.9 percent to USD79.48 per barrel.
Relatively, the local currency slipped against the US dollar and closed the day at 54.63 from the previous day’s 54.62 close.
It opened the day at 54.7, a depreciation from the 54.8 start on Wednesday, trading between 54.78 and 54.53, and resulting in an average of 54.688.
Volume reached USD1.25 billion, lower than the previous day’s USD1.43 billion.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort traced the peso’s weakening partly to the drop of the PSEi but noted that the local unit continues to get a lift from expectations of lower hikes in the Federal Reserve’s key rates, a drop in US Treasury yields, the continued reopening of the Philippine economy, and the drop in oil prices, which is expected to help ease the elevated inflation rate.
He said the rise of the country’s balance of payments surplus to a two-month high, at USD612 million for December 2022, also played as support to the peso.
For Friday, the local unit is seen to trade between 54.55 and 54.75 against the US dollar. (PNA)
