Share prices ended flat Tuesday on profit-taking.
The peso closed up.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 4.99 points, a 0.08 percent drop to 6,593.39.
The broader All Shares index was down 3.3 points or 0.09 percent to 3,506.79.
Losers edged gainers 106 to 79 with 52 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.23 billion.
The peso advanced 0.4 percent, a day after the country maintained its economic growth targets over the next five years.
The peso closed at 55.54 to the dollar, up from 55.77 on Monday. The currency opened at 55.65, an intraday low, and hit a high of 55.43. Trading turnover reached $1.27 billion.
Markets are expecting the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points at its policy meeting next week.
Investors are also awaiting Bank of Japan’s policy meeting this Friday. Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed the need to keep monetary policy ultra-loose for now, but signalled the chance of raising interest rates if inflation and wage growth overshot expectations.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said the market closed flat “as investors await earnings releases as well as a slew of eco(nomic) data.”
Claire Alviar, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said investors also opted for profit-taking, resulting to the flat result.
“Moreover, Asian markets were mostly in the red as well as investors waited for the big tech firms earnings and for the US GDP,” Alviar said.
Most actively traded BDO Unibank Inc. was up P0.20 to P139.70. Bank of the Philippine Islands was steady at P109.50. Ayala Land Inc. was down P0.30 to P26.35. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P1 to P218. SM Investments Corp. was steady at P900. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was up P0.12 to P4.08. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.25 to P33.70. GT Capital Holdings Inc. was down P0.20 to P481.80. Globe Telecom Inc. was up P1 to P1,7230. DMCI Holdings Inc. was down P0.18 to 1,723.
