Share prices ended lower Thursday on profit-taking.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 106.51 points to 6,951.30, a 1.5 percent drop.
The broader all shares index was down 54.29 points to 4,354.85, a 1.23 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 137 to 62 with 46 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P13.17 billion.
The peso closed at 50.56 to the dollar, up from 50.88 on Wednesday.
The currency opened at 50.80 and hit a high of 50.55 and a low of 50.86. Trading turnover reached $988.08 million.
Asia’s emerging currencies edged higher on Thursday as Treasury yields retreated on signs of a deal to avert a US federal debt default, calming market fears ahead of key data that could signal when the Federal Reserve may start tapering.
Lower oil prices also helped prop up the currencies of Asia’s oil importers such as South Korea, which alongside the Thai baht led the region with gains of up to 0.3 percent.
Politicians in Washington appeared close to a temporary deal that would avoid a shutdown of the US government and see an extension of the federal debt ceiling into December.
That left markets largely awaiting US employment data on Friday for a clue as to when the Fed may start to wind down its pandemic-era asset purchases, which could eat into demand for Asia’s higher-yielding but riskier assets.
“A very strong number on all counts may see the market bring forward expectations of Fed rate hikes, which will be positive for the dollar and keep Asian currencies on the backfoot,” Khoon Goh, ANZ’s head of Asia research said.
In September, the Fed said it was likely to begin reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as November.
Indonesia’s rupiah, which backs some of emerging markets highest-yielding debt, was flat.
Foreign exchange reserves in Southeast Asia’s largest economy rose in September by about $2.1 billion to a record of $146.9 billion, the central bank said.
Friday will also see a meeting of India’s central bank, where policymakers are widely expected to keep the repo rate unchanged to support recovering growth.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp. said investors returned to the US and the rest of Asia “as lawmakers gained headway on the (US) debt ceiling debate, and the 10-year Treasury note yield neared 1.5 percent.
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered to allow an emergency debt limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to save them until December. Doing so would allow the Democratic government more time to pass a standalone debt limit legislation through budget reconciliation–the same process they used to pass a stimulus bill last March,” Limlingan said.
SB Equities Inc. said the drop in the market was also a “positioning ahead of Friday’s PSEi rebalancing session to make way for the entry of Wilcon Depot in the benchmark index effective the following Monday.”
Most actively traded Wilcon Depot Inc. was up P2.65 to P34. Converge Information and Communication Technology Solutions Inc. was down P6.50 to P37.50. Monde Nissin Corp. was up P0.50 to P18.50. AC Energy Corp. was up P0.02 to P12.42. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P1.50 to P116. First Gen Corp. was down P2.40 to P27.60. Globe Telecom Inc. was down P170 to P3,240. Jollibee Foods Corp. was up P6.80 to P210. PLDT Inc. was down P34 to P1,676. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down P6.60 to P185.60.
