Bargain- hunting pushed shares up, cutting the market’s two-day drop. There was no peso trading for the day as government offices were suspended.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was up 25.07 points, a 0.38 percent hike to 6,643.45.
The broader All Shares index was up 9.42 points or 0.27 percent to 3,541.33.
Gainers edged losers 119 to 74 with 42 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.44 billion.
Most Asian emerging currencies were mixed on Wednesday, with Chinese equities and the yuan leading losses, as investors exercised caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium later in the week.
After the Fed’s aggressive rate-hike moves to stamp out red-hot inflation in recent months, investors are waiting for more clues on the monetary policy from central bank officials when they meet at the symposium in Wyoming on August 25 to 27.
“Asian markets, like others, are in a nervous holding pattern ahead of the Jackson Hole speech by Jerome Powell on Friday, so all are probably a little bit offered today,” said Robert Carnell, regional head of research Asia Pacific at ING.
The dollar index steadied at 0.1 percent just below its recent peaks, adding pressure to the emerging Asia currencies.
Claire Alviar, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said the uptick in the local market was a technical bounce at the 6,600 level while investors wait for the speech from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
Most actively traded International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P0.80 to P185.
BDO Unibank Inc. was up P2 to P127. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.95 to P28.80. Converge ICT Solutions Inc. was down P0.10 to P18.70. Solar Power Nueva Ecija Corp. was down P0.02 to P1.65. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.30 to P1.65. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.30 to P36.50. Security Bank Corp. was up P2.50 to P91. PLDT Inc. was down P4 to P1,730.