Local markets treat inflation report as ‘non-event’

The Peso opened the day at 54.3 and traded between its closing level and 54.33. Average for the day stood at 54.281. (Shutterstock photo)

MANILA – The Philippine Peso ended the week on a better footing against the greenback but the main equities gauge fell modestly.

The local currency finished the trade at 54.23 from 54.32 a day ago, which a trader pointed to below-expected 6.7 percent inflation rate last September.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday showed that the September 2018 inflation rate is higher than the 6.4 percent last August, bringing the average to date to 5 percent, higher than the government’s 2 percent to 4 percent target until 2020.

The trader said concerns on the trade war between the US and China continue to concern investors thus, some risk-off sentiment.

The Peso opened the day at 54.3 and traded between its closing level and 54.33. Average for the day stood at 54.281.

Volume reached USD592.5 million, lower than the USD893.1 million a day ago.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 54.20 and 54.40 next week.

On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.21 percent, or 15.14 points, to 7,078.20 points.

Landbank market economist Guian Dumalagan said the uptick in inflation last September from the previous month’s 6.4 percent is a “non-event” in the local equities market during the day since this is lower than the 6.8 percent consensus forecast.

“Investors are now in a wait-and-see mode as they need another cue to make sure that (the) CPI (consumer price index) has started to peak,” he said.

All shares are also down at 4,363.36 points, a decline of 0.16 percent or 6.98 points from the previous session.

Most of the sectoral indices ended on the red with Holding Firms registering the highest decline at 0.66 percent, followed by Industrial, 0.53 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.41 percent; and Financials, 0.33 percent.

On the other hand, Property rose by 0.64 percent and Services, 0.21 percent.

Volume reached 1.13 billion shares amounting to PHP4.08 billion.

Losers led gainers at 129 to 66 while 40 stocks were unchanged.