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MANILA – The local bourse’s main index started the week in the negative territory partly due to lesser factor from the United States given its Juneteenth holiday Monday, but the peso gained against the US dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.89 percent, or 58 points, to 6,450.34 points.
All Shares followed with a decline of 0.75 percent, or 25.87 points, to 3,441.24 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also slipped during the day, led by Holding Firms after it lost 1.32 percent.
It was trailed by Property, 1.09 percent; Industrial, 1.01 percent; Services, 0.43 percent; and Financials, 0.41 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil index gained during the day after rising by 0.95 percent.
Volume reached 483.71 million shares amounting to PHP4.22 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 112 to 60, while 50 shares were unchanged.
“Investors took a cautious stance to kick-off the week as Wall Street will be having a shortened trading week today as the regular equities trading floor will be closed on June 19 in observance of Juneteenth,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
On the local front, Limlingan said investors expect another pause in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) rate hiking cycle on Thursday due to sustained deceleration of inflation rate.
After hitting a 14-year high of 8.7 percent last January, inflation rate slowed further to 6.1 percent last May.
BSP officials forecast this to slow within the government’s 2 to 4 percent target band as early as September this year.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose in the international market to USD76.61 per barrel for Brent crude and to USD71.78 per barrel for the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), “as higher Chinese demand and OPEC+ supply cuts lifted prices.”
Meanwhile, the peso gained compared to the US dollar and finished the day at 55.74 from its 55.86 close at the end of last week.
It opened the day at 55.845 and traded between 55.97 and 55.7. The average level for the day stood at 55.844.
Volume increased to USD1.11 billion from the previous week's USD969.15 million.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort traced the peso’s performance to expectations for another pause on the BSP’s rate hikes on Thursday after the first pause in the Federal Reserve’s tightening move last week.
He said downward correction of the US dollar also benefited the peso during the day.
For Tuesday, he forecasts the currency pair to trade between 55.65 and 55.85. (PNA)
