MANILA -- The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose for the fourth day in a row Friday and the Peso recovered against the US dollar on investors' expectations of more hikes by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on its key rates, among other factors.
The main equities index went up by 0.46 percent, or 35.53 points, to 7,701.38 points, which a trader said is in line with regional peers due in part to the statement of European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi who stressed ECB’s bid to start cutting its asset purchases program starting December this year.
It was followed by the broader All Shares index, which improved by 0.22 percent, or 10.01 points, to 4.615.53 points.
Most of the sectors ended the week with gains - led by the Property, 0.87 percent; and was tracked by Financials, 0.41 percent; Industrial, 0.36 percent; Holding Firms, 0.06 percent; and Services, 0.01 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil ended on the red with a decline of 0.51 percent.
The volume for the day totaled 1.3 billion shares amounting to PHP6.22 billion.
Losers led gainers at 89 to 86 while 50 shares were unchanged.
Also, the local currency ended the week at 50.285 to the greenback, a big jump from 53.435 on Thursday.
A trader said BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr.’s recent statement about the possibility of another interest rate hike during the meeting of the central bank’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) on Aug. 9 boosted market sentiment.
This rate hike expectations in the Philippines added to similar projections for other central banks overseas, which investors expected to benefit from after years of low interest rate regime, the trader said.
The Peso opened the day at 53.5, weaker than its 53.29 start in the previous session.
It traded between its opening level and 53.28, resulting in an average of 53.371.
The volume for the day reached USD794.8 million, higher than the USD625.4 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.20 and 53.60 next week. (PNA)
