PSEi up 2.01%
Share prices closed mostly higher on Monday, buoyed by bargain hunting and window dressing.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed 128.53 points higher at 6,534.91, a 2.01 percent increase from Friday’s close.
The broader All Shares index was up 51.40 points or 1.4 percent at 3,727.23. Gainers led losers 110 to 72, with 53 issues unchanged. Turnover value reached P4.2 billion.
The market took its cue from Wall Street’s uptick over the weekend on improved views for the timing of the Fed’s rate cut in 2025, online stockbroker 2tradeasia.com said.
The personal consumption and expenditures price index, which serves as the US core inflation gauge, was reported to have moved slower than what the market expected.
“With a shortened trading week, however, expect some to seize on intra-week advances to cash out,” 2tradeasia said.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., noted the prevalence of seasonal window dressing “with two more trading days to go before the year-end.”
Philstocks Financial Inc. also cited “hints from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas of a possible policy rate cut in its first meeting for 2025,” which influenced the market.
“The recent rebound of the local currency against the dollar also gave the market a boost,” it said.
The peso gained strength to close at 58.45 to the dollar, up from 58.81 on Friday. The local unit opened at an intraday low of 58.70 against the US currency. Trading volume reached $1.18 billion.
Ricafort said the peso closed at its best “in more than a week and further eased from the record high closing rate of 59 last Thursday, amid the seasonal surge in OFW remittances and the conversion of money transfers to pesos for Christmas holiday-related spending, during the last trading day before Christmas.”
Most actively traded shares were International Container Terminal Services Inc., up P8 to P398. BDO Unibank Inc. rose P0.50 to P145.10. Ayala Land Inc. was up P1.45 to P26.25. SP New Energy Corp. gained P0.01 to P1.03. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P1.10 to P122.60. SM Investments Corp. was up P17 to P900. SM Prime Holdings Inc. rose P0.35 to P25.15. Universal Robina Corp. gained P0.10 to P75. PLDT Inc. was up P3 to P1,255. Ayala Corp. went up by P6.50 to P600.
