Share prices closed slightly lower Wednesday on profit-taking.
The peso was also down.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index was down 2.08 points, a 0.03 percent drop to 6,512.39.
The broader all shares index was down 2.78 points or 0.08 percent to 3,469.75.
Losers edged gainers 97 to 69 with 60 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P3.82 billion.
The peso closed at 55.385 to the dollar, down from 55.23 on Tuesday.
The currency opened at 55.30 and hit a high of 55.28 and a low of 55.385. Trading turnover reached $1.16 billion.
The peso depreciated 0.2 percent after data showed the country’s annual inflation eased for a fifth consecutive month in June, reflecting a slower rise in food and transport costs.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) kept its key policy rate steady at 6.25 percent at its last two meetings in May and in June, and it has signalled it could stay there longer with inflation on an easing trend.
Analysts expect the BSP to keep its policy rate unchanged for the rest of the year.
Most currencies across emerging Asia fell on Wednesday, after soft services activity in China dampened sentiment, while investors awaited the release of the US Federal Reserve’s minutes from its last policy meeting, Reuters reported.
Markets are almost certain the Fed will hike rates by 25 basis points in July after pausing last month.
Claire Alviar, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said the market declined on profit-taking “after two consecutive days of market gains.”
“The market’s losses were trimmed at the last minute given the cooling inflation rate at home. However, since many investors had already priced-in this data, it did not significantly boost market sentiment,” she said.
“Additionally, the sentiment was negatively influenced by the performance of Asian markets, which were predominantly in the red, as investors digested the service activity data from Japan and China, indicating a slowdown,” Alviar added.
Most actively traded Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was up P0.19 to P4.98. Ayala Corp. was down P8 to P630. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P0.10 to P137.60. SM Investments Corp. was down P6 to P932. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.05 to P33.65. Ayala Land Inc. was steady at P24.70. DigiPlus Interactive Corp. was up P0.25 to P3.68. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P1.20 to P109. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P2.20 to P203. Globe Telecom Inc. was up P13 to P1,762.
