Local stocks rise, Peso weakens as USD surges

The main equities index ticked-up by 0.94 percent, or 69.69 points, to 7,451.37 points. (Shutterstock photo)

MANILA — The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose for a second day in a row Wednesday but the peso fell after the US dollar powered forward. This, following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before the US Senate Tuesday night (Manila time) painting a rosy picture of the US economy.

The main equities index ticked-up by 0.94 percent, or 69.69 points, to 7,451.37 points.

All the other counters followed with the broader All Shares up by 0.61 percent, or 27.13 points, to 4,492.51 points.

Property and Holding firms both rose by more one percent at 1.36 percent and 1.07 percent, respectively.

Mining and Oil followed with 0.85 percent as well as Financials, 0.65 percent, Services, 0.52 percent, and Industrial, 0.33 percent.

Volume for the day reached 1.24 billion shares amounting to Php 4.25 billion.

Gainers led losers at 108 to 76 while 52 shares were unchanged.

In an interview the Philippine News Agency, Astro Del Castillo, President and Managing Director of finance and investment company First Grade Finance, Inc., said investors took their cue from Dow Jones, which got a boost from Powell’s statement.

Powell said monetary officials continue to see sustained growth of the US economy. He also allayed risks from the Trump administration’s trade policies.

“Powell’s remarks provided a positive trend and local investors took their cue from it,” Del Castillo said. He added that bargain hunting also provided additional boost to local equities, thus, the positive finish for all the indices.

Affirmation by Fitch Rating of the Philippines’ “BBB” rating, a level above the minimum investment grade, with Stable outlook, is also a “plus” for the PSEi.

Del Castillo expects the main index to trade sideways between the 7,400-7,500 level until Friday. “It is healthy for the index not to rise too fast and too soon,” he added.

On the other hand, the local currency shed Php0.10 after it ended the middle of the week at 53.

49 from 53.39 Tuesday.

A trader said the peso’s weakness was expected following the greenback’s appreciation after Powell’s testimony.

The peso opened the day at 53.44, sideways from the previous day’s 53.50.

It traded between 53.52 and 53.42, bringing the day’s average to 53.46.

Volume for the day amounted to USD423.

55 million, down from day-ago’s USD504.59 million.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.40 and 53.60 Thursday.