PSEi returns to 8,000 pts on Fed rate hike; peso slightly down vs USD

File Photo (Photo by Katrina.Tuliao, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Thursday ended its three-day slide and the peso closed sideways after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) hiked Federal Reserve’s key rates during its March 20-21, 2018 meeting.

PSEi went up, back to the 8,000-level after it rose 2.72 percent, or 215.45 points, to 8,124.45 points.All Shares trailed after ending the day at 4,890.17 points, up 2.11 percent or 101.11 points.

Property registered the highest increase among the sectors after it rose 4.30 percent; followed by the Holding Firms, 2.93 percent; Mining and Oil, 2.32 percent; Services, 1.87 percent; Industrial, 1.36 percent; and Financials, 1.12 percent.Volume reached a little over two billion shares amounting to PHP8.4 billion.

Gainers led losers at 122 to 75 while 47 shares were unchanged.The peso finished the day at 52.20 from 52.15 a day ago, which a trader attributed to expectations for more Fed hikes and lack of adjustments from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

This after the BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB), after its meeting Thursday, kept anew the central bank’s key rates after noting that amid the rise in domestic inflation rate this is expected to remain within the government’s two to four percent target for 2017-19 based on the newly-adopted base year of 2012.

With the news about the hike in the Fed’s key rates, the peso opened weaker at 52.15 from  52.05 a day ago.It traded between its closing rate and 52.05, resulting to an average of 52.15.Volume of trade reached USD717.4 million, up from the USD445.6 million a day ago.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo on Thursday said the local currency’s movement “continues to reflect market fundamentals.”“There is more demand for foreign exchange because the economy continues to grow,” he said, citing strong growth of importation and increase in debt servicing.

He pointed out that “the economy benefits from such a flexibility of the domestic currency precisely to effect the necessary adjustment.”On Thursday, the central bank’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) kept the BSP’s key rates steady amid the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) decision to hike the Federal Reserves’ key rates.

To date, the BSP’s reverse repurchase (RRP) rate is three percent, the repurchase (RP) rate is 3.5 percent and rate of the special deposit account (SDA) facility is 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the Fed’s key rates were hiked by 25 basis points to 1.75 percent.Guinigundo said “investors, whether direct or portfolio, invest in a jurisdiction not only the basis of interest rate differential but they are also driven by market fundamentals.”

“They should realize that in the Philippines, we expect a higher growth of about seven to eight percent. I think that is enough incentive for people to come and invest in the Philippines,” he said.“In real terms, interest rate in the Philippines should start improving, should start going up, and I think that should also be conveyed to market analysts and market investors,” he added.