Bargain-hunting pulled the market to regain some ground after Wednesday’s decline.
The peso continued to slide.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index was up 39.66 points, a 0.61 percent hike to 6,593.74.
The broader all shares index was up 15.13 points or 0.43 percent to 3,505.20.
Losers edged gainers 99 to 88 with 48 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.25 billion.
The peso closed at 57.18 to the dollar, down from 57.135 on Wednesday.
The currency opened at 57.07 and hit a high of 57.06 and a low of 57.22. Trading turnover reached $1.15 billion.
The dollar is likely to strengthen further as interest rates are set to rise, while resurgence in COVID-19 infections across China have pressured the yuan, compounding misery on Asia’s emerging currencies reeling from widening interest rate differentials and high inflation.
Mikhail Plopenio, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said bargain hunters carried the market to a positive close, on the back of the overnight uptick in Wall Street and further improvements in the local labor market.
“Investors were cheered as the employment rate for August stood at 94.8 percent, the highest for this year. However, ongoing headwinds which include the peso’s depreciation and recession risks offshore kept many investors on the sidelines which resulted to weak trading for the day,” he said.
Most actively traded Ayala Land Inc. was down P0.75 to P27.80. Universal Robina Corp. was up P3.30 to P128.40. San Miguel Corp. was up P1.70 to P98.70. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P1.25 to P37.40. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P0.80 to P125. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P0.50 to P182.50. Emperador Inc. was up P0.50 to P20.85. Jollibee Foods Corp. was up P3.40 to P247.80. AbaCore Capital Holdings Inc. was up P0.07 to P2.73. PLDT Inc. was down P43 to P1,654.
