Share prices ended higher Monday on bargain hunting.
The peso closed up.
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index was up 140.89 points to 6,769.64, a 2.13 percent hike.
The broader All Shares index was up 50.53 points or 1.45 percent to 3,543.28.
Gainers edged losers 120 to 74 with 49 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.32 billion.
The peso closed at 57.675 to the dollar, up from 57.71 on Friday. The currency opened at P57.75 and hit a high of 57.60 and a low of 57.77. Trading turnover reached $1.46 billion.
Asian emerging market currencies were subdued on Monday after inflation data in the United States further dimmed the prospects of interest rate cuts soon, with all eyes on the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this week.
The higher-for-longer US interest rates, along with recent weakness in the regional currencies, are “likely to delay rate cuts in the region till next year or even lead to potential rate hikes this year,” said Lloyd Chan, FX strategist at MUFG.
Stockbroker Philstocks Financial Inc. said investors continued to hunt bargains, adding the positive cues from the US market last Friday and the easing tension in the Middle East contributed to the market’s gain.
Most actively traded International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P9.80 to P336.20. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P5.80 to P149.80. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P4 to P129. DigiPlus Interactive Corp. was steady at P10.50. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.95 to P29.50. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.45 to P28.80. Manila Electric Co. was down P1.40 to P367. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. was up P0.50 to P70. SM Investments Corp. was up P14 to P969. ACEN Corp. was down P0.24 to P4.02.
Meanwhile, the PSE said it is lifting the trading suspension of embattled paper company, Steniel Manufacturing Corp., imposed since 2006.
The PSE said trading of Steniel will resume today, April 30.
Steniel was declared in default of P636 million worth of loan by banks in May 2006.
Steniel addressed the debt through restructuring, involving dacion en pago of the company’s idle machineries and debt conversion to equity.
To address the negative equity, Steniel sold its unit Steniel Mindanao Packaging Corp. in 2013 which it
The company then reacquired SMPC in 2019 through a share-swap agreement.
The company then moved to convert debts from Greenkraft Corp. and Roburgh Investments Ltd. to equity.
