Share prices closed higher yesterday on bargain hunting after five consecutive days of decline.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was up 14.78 points, a 0.24 percent hike to 6,054.50. The broader All Shares index was up 4.14 points or 0.13 percent to 3,288.83.
Losers edged gainers 80 to 83 with 51 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P3.63 billion.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the market’s uptick can be attributed to a retracement in line with the “healthy upward correction in the US stock markets overnight.”
The peso closed at 56.85 to the dollar, down from 56.76 on Tuesday. The currency opened at 56.75, an intraday high, and hit a low of 56.875. Trading turnover reached $909.7 million.
The regional currency markets were broadly mixed, with the Malaysian ringgit and Singapore dollar edging 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent higher, respectively, according to Reuters.
The South Korean won slipped 0.4 percent, while shares fell 0.6 percent. The country will report its advance estimates for third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday.
Riskier emerging Asian assets have come under pressure as fears of “higher-for-longer” interest rates in the US led to bond sell-offs in recent days that pushed the yield on 10-year Treasury notes to 5 percent for the first time since 2007.
Separately, in the Philippines, Eli Remolona, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor, said the bank remains open to an off-cycle policy rate hike, which could happen as early as its weekly review on Thursday.
The bank is scheduled to hold its official monetary policy review on Nov. 16.
“The double whammy of a weak currency and disruption to the disinflation process has raised the risk that the BSP will act to tighten policy sooner rather than later,” DBS analysts wrote in a note.
China’s top parliament body approved a 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) sovereign bond issue and passed a bill to allow local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas, in a move to support the economy.
Most actively traded Bank of the Philippine Islands was down P0.60 to P100. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P1.60 to P129. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down P1 to P201. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. was up P1.55 to P53.70. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was steady at P30.20. Ayala Land Inc. was down P0.40 to P28. PLDT Inc. was up P31 to P1,235. Wilcon Depot Inc. was down P1.80 to P19.60. Jollibee Foods Corp. was up P3 to P214. Universal Robina Corp. was down P0.10 to P113.40.