Share prices ended higher Wednesday as investors bet on an easing inflation and sustained economic growth.
The peso closed up.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed up 80.82 points, a 1.15 percent hike.
The broader all shares index was up 34.59 points or 0.95 percent hike to 3,692.51.
Gainers edged losers 124 to 82 with 47 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached $7.99 billion.
The peso closed at 54.62 to the dollar, up from 54.82 on Tuesday.
The currency opened at 54.80 and hit a high of 54.57 and a low of 55.01.
Trading turnover reached $1.43 billion.
Emerging Asian currencies and equities were mixed on Wednesday, with the rupiah gaining and the baht retreating after the Bank of Japan (BOJ), in a surprise move, stuck to its ultra-easy monetary policy.
“While the Japanese yen is not particularly correlated with Asian currencies, the US dollar may benefit further from BOJ inaction, which in turn could result in more dollar strength compared to Asian currencies in the short term,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of EM strategy at TD Securities.
“With the Lunar New Year long holiday coming up in Asia next week, markets are likely to focus on taking profit/squaring positions as liquidity in Asia is expected to thin next week,” said Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at OCBC.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said the market edged closer to the 7,100 level as traders anticipate a slew of economic reports from the US.
Claire Alviar, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc. , said the market was also driven by investor optimism towards the prospects of the economy.
Most actively traded BDO Unibank Inc. was down P0.90 to P123.60. SM Investments Corp. was up P1 to P934. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P10.40 to P221.60. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.50 to P32.45. PLDT Inc. was up P40 to P1,480. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P3 to P113.30. Emperador Inc. was up P0.05 to P20.40.
Converge ICT Solutions Inc. was up P1.58 to P19. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was steady at P38.30. Jollibee Foods Corp. was down P2 to P250.
