Share prices ended lower Monday on risk aversion.
The peso closed up.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index was down 45.43 points, a 0.69 percent drop to 6,544.45.
The broader all shares index was down 21.56 points or 0.61 percent to 3,518.83.
Losers edged gainers 124 to 58 wit 47 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P25.53 billion.
The peso closed at 54.93 to the dollar, up from 55.224 on Friday. The currency opened at 55.05 and hit a high of 54.79 and a low of 55.08. Trading turnover reached $1.07 billion.
The Thai baht led Asian emerging currencies higher on Monday as the US dollar slid on the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse and on hopes the US Federal Reserve may hike interest rates less aggressively going forward, Reuters said.
The Thai baht appreciated as much as 1.6 percent to 34.43 per dollar and was set to post its sharpest gain since March 1, while the Philippine peso and Singapore dollar gained 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
“The SVB episode demonstrates that portfolios’ duration risks can trip up financial institutions readily as rates rise,” analysts at DBS Bank said in a note.
Financial institutions may face more challenges around refinancing their short-term debt and servicing debt, the note added.
Meanwhile, the United States is due to report inflation data on Tuesday, which will give further clues on the Fed’s likely stance on rate hikes and will keep Asian currencies “very volatile” said
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said investors continue to be concerned after the reported closure of SVB in the US.
“Anxiety (in the US) jumped on Friday and options volume on the index soared to a near four- year high as a growing crisis at SVB,” he said.
Claire Alviar, analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc., said the market is likewise having a hard time to scale back to the 6,600 level.
Most actively traded BDO Unibank Inc. was down P2.20 to P122. International Container Terminal Service Inc. was down P5.60 to P207.40. Ayala Land Inc. was down P0.10 to P26.35. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was steady at P35.70. Ayala Corp. was down P4 to P620.
Bank of the Philippine Islands was down P3.90 to P105.10. Globe Telecom Inc. was down P20 to P1,800. SM Investments Corp. was steady at P875. PLDT Inc. was down P38 to P1,278. Robinsons Land Corp. was up P0.34 to P14.40.
