PNA graphics
MANILA – Both local stocks and the peso closed Thursday with losses after the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) unanimous decision to pause interest rate hikes.
The local bourse benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended the day’s trading at 6,474.26, shedding 38.13 points, with all shares down by 13.82 points to the 3,455.93 level.
All counters posted a decline except Financials, which slightly gained by 3.71 points to 1,842.45.
Listed property firms incurred the largest combined losses, as their counter fell 45.91 points to 2,597.75.
Other losers include Holding Firms, down by 30.15 points to 6,450.40; Services, 15.93 points to 1,555.90; Industrial, 9.16 points to 9,159.14; and Mining and Oil, 4.66 points to 9,896.59.
“Philippine equities logged modest losses on Thursday as the public combed through the latest FOMC meeting minutes where members opted to skip a hike. The latest findings showed that most officials would support more increases ahead,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.
Losers outpaced gainers on this day’s trading at 100 to 73, while 51 listed firms’ shares remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Philippine peso also weakened to 55.50 to the US dollar, shedding 0.11 from the previous day’s closing of 55.39 to the greenback.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. economist Michael Ricafort said the FOMC meeting also impacted the trade between the currency pair on Thursday, along with the anticipation of the US jobs data on Friday and the higher yields of US government bonds.
“As a result, a gauge of the US dollar vs. major global currencies corrected slightly higher recently to among three-week highs,” Ricafort said.
The local currency opened the day weak at 55.51, and traded between 55.43 and 55.64, bringing the average level for the day to 55.55.
Total trade declined to USD1.06 billion on Thursday from a volume of USD1.16 billion on Wednesday. (PNA)
