Share prices ended lower Wednesday tracking overseas leads.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 82.42 points to 7,261.54, a 1.12 percent drop.
The broader all shares index was down 27.15 points to 3,855.25, a 0.7 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 103 to 75 with 50 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.29 billion.
The peso closed at 51.50 to the dollar, down from 51.488 on Tuesday.
The currency opened at 51.47 and hit a high of 51.41 and a low of 51.50. Trading turnover reached $754.20 million.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the peso closed slightly weaker against the dollar after US Treasury yields posted new two-year highs, as markets price in a possible Fed rate hike by March.
Reuters reported the same concern dragged other regional currencies as well.
Currencies in the region were flat to lower with Indonesia’s rupiah, an attractive carry-trade for investors, down a fifth of a percent, while the Thai baht fell 0.3 percent.
The US dollar also firmed overnight as two-year Treasury yields stayed above 1 percent and benchmark 10-year yields stood at a two-year high of 1.8860 percent.
Investors are now awaiting the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 25 to 26 meeting for hawkish signals as markets now position for at least four hikes this year, likely starting in March.
Higher US interest rates could prompt outflows from Asia’s riskier assets and the central banks to also tighten.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., said stocks fell “following the sentiment abroad as stocks across the region got battered on Tuesday in a volatile start to the holiday-shortened trading week in the US.”
Limlingan said this developed as “rising bond yields, persisting rate pressures and an earnings miss by Goldman Sachs weighed on markets.”
Most actively traded Solar Power Nueva Ecija Corp. was up P0.01 to P1.61. Emperador Inc. was down P0.20 to P19.20. Aboitiz Power Corp. was up P1.75 to P33.55. Ayala Land Inc. was down P0.95 to P35. Monde Nissin Corp. was down P0.12 to P16.58. SM Investments Corp. was down P9 to P959. AC Energy Corp. was down P0.06 to P9.50. Security Bank Corp. was down P5 to P107. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.50 to P34.35. – Ruelle Castro
