MANILA -- A host of concerns, both from overseas and in the domestic front continue to haunt Philippine equities but the peso was able to stay afloat as the week's trading came to a close on Friday.
The local currency ended the week at 53.73 from 53.8 a day ago.
A trader said the peso continued to be affected by external developments but got a lift from the hawkish statement of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., who said that the central bank is willing to “take strong immediate action using the full range of instruments in its toolkit” to address threats to inflation and inflation expectations.
Espenilla also said an emergency meeting to discuss possible actions to address threats to inflation and inflation expectations is “an option” ahead of the rate setting meet of the central bank’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) on September 27, 2018.
To date, the MB has raised the BSP’s key rates by 100 basis points to help address rising inflation rate, which rose to a multiyear high of 6.4 percent last August.
With inflation rising beyond expectations in August, economists are expecting the MB to hike BSP’s key rates even further later this month.
With concerns remaining high, the peso opened the day at 53.85 from 53.525 in the previous session.
It was able to strengthen to 53.61 but was pulled to 53.975 mid-trade, resulting to an average of 53.831.
Volume of trade reached USD956.9 million, higher than the USD911.5 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.60 and 53.80 next week.
Also, IHS Markit Chief Economist for Asia Pacific Rajiv Biswas, said the peso suffered this week due to the “rising contagion” from issues being generated by the financial woes of Turkey and Argentina. He said risks further rose due to the US-China trade war and “as concerns increase that a China slowdown could send shockwaves of contagion around the APAC regional economies, including the Philippines.”
Other factors that are pulling the peso down include “worsening current account deficit and balance of payments position, as well as the deteriorating inflation outlook,” he said. Biswas said that with the August 2018 turn-out, the BSP is considering another tightening and this “is likely to result in slower GDP growth.”
In the second quarter this year, growth, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), slowed to six percent from quarter-ago’s 6.6 percent.
“These fears were heightened by the BSP’s Business Expectations Survey for Q3 2018, which showed that business confidence in the Philippines fell to the lowest level since Q1 2010, highlighting the worsening economic outlook,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) further shed 0.53 percent, or 40.07 points, to 7,598.64 points.
Landbank market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan, in a market report, said the PSEi slid anew after Chinese equities went into bear territory.
The main gauge also declined due to expectations that Japan would likely be next in line in terms of the ongoing trade tensions among several major economies.
Another concern that is affecting investors’ sentiment is the impending implementation of about USD200-billion worth of tariff by the US on Chinese goods, he said.
Dumalagan noted that US crude stocks exceeded expectations after it dropped by 4.3 million barrels last week, the lowest since February 2015. However, this was countered by the rise in the prices of gasoline and distillate, he said.
The drop of the PSEi was mirrored by the All Shares, which fell 0.11 percent or 5.24 points, to 4,656.42 points.
Majority of the sectors also finished the week in the red, led by the Property, 1.52 percent; and was followed by the Holding Firms, 0.59 percent; Financials, 0.41 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.32 percent; and Services, 0.02 percent.
Only the Industrial index posted gains after it rose 1.04 percent.
Volume was thin at 646.75 million stocks amounting to PHP6.3 billion.
Gainers led losers at 103 to 89 while 46 was unchanged. (PNA)
