Share prices ended higher Thursday tracking overseas leads. The peso closed down.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was up 142.50 points or by 2.28 percent to 6,37.26.
The broader all shares index was up 54.38 points or 1.61 percent to 3,424.96.
Gainers edged losers 140 to 50 with 40 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P4.72 billion.
The peso closed at 55.82 to the dollar, down from 55.68 on Wednesday. The currency opened at 55.58 and hit a high of 55.55 and a low of 55.9. Trading turnover reached $1.27 billion.
Most currencies rose on Thursday, while yields fell in Asia’s emerging markets as less-hawkish-than-feared messaging from Fed Chair Jerome Powell allayed fears over the pace of US rate hikes and curtailed safe-haven flows to the dollar, Reuters reported.
Overnight, the US Federal Reserve hiked rates by a widely expected 75 basis points, sending US Treasury yields lower.
Powell sounded suitably hawkish on curbing inflation in his news conference, but also dropped guidance on the size of the next rate hike and noted that “at some point” it would be appropriate to slow down.
As the United States pushes ahead with its steepest interest rate hikes in a generation, investors are unusually poised to buy in Asia’s emerging markets, betting authorities can tame inflation without triggering the capital-flight chaos of previous cycles.
But with markets still unsure of the potential next steps from the US Fed, more clarity is needed before Asian currencies see a lasting respite, particularly as fears that more aggressive hikes might tip the US economy into a recession.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said the market as expected went up after the US Fed’s decision to raise rates.
“Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the central bank could slow the pace of tightening by the next policy meeting. Investors also cheered on his statement that the US economy hasn’t entered a recession,” he said.
Most actively traded SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.55 to P36.70. Converge ICT Solutions Inc. was down P0.81 to P19.70. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.60 to P25. SM Investments Corp. was up P20 to P800. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P4.80 to P91.80. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P2.40 to P119.40. Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. was up P2.50 to P57.50. Globe Telecom Inc. was down P30 to P2,070. Ayala Corp. was up P20 to P620. International Container Terminal Services Inc. wasup P4.70 to P189.70.
