Share prices ended lower Wednesday, tracking overseas leads.
The peso closed down. The currency dipped 0.1 percent, its worst intraday fall in nearly a month.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index was down 53.15 points, a 0.81 percent drop to 6,540.24.
The broader All Share index was down 14.53 points or 0.41 percent to 3,492.26.
Losers edged gainers 101 to 95 with 47 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.45 billion.
The peso closed at 55.62 to the dollar, down from 55.54 on Wednesday.
The currency opened at 55.57 and hit a high of 55.54 and a low of 55.57. Trading turnover reached $1.23 billion.
Currencies largely lacked direction after softening US data and renewed banking sector concerns fanned fears of a recession and dampened risk appetite, Reuters reported.
The greenback held onto overnight gains as investors turned to safe-haven assets after US consumer confidence dropped to a nine-month low in April, further heightening the risk that the economy could fall into recession this year.
Investor attention is also on major central bank meetings, with the Bank of Japan’s policy decision due on Friday and the US Federal Reserve meeting next week.
Markets are now pricing in a 76 percent chance for the Fed to deliver a 25 basis point (bps) rate hike, according to CME FedWatch, down from 90 percent at the start of the week.
“We are wary of downside risks and think that the widely expected last 25 bps hike next week might not be quite cast in stone. With the Fed on blackout, data and sentiment could well shift pricing materially,” analysts at DBS said in a note.
In the Philippines, the central bank governor said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas aims to maintain its interest rate differential with the Fed and considers it “dangerous” to cut interest rates faster than the Fed.
Most actively traded BDO Unibank Inc. was down P1.70 to P138. SM Investments Corp.
was down P2 to P898. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was up P0.18 to P4.26. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.05 to P26.40. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.10 to P33.60.
International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P0.80 to P218.80. Ayala Corp. was down P22 to P626. Universal Robina Corp. was down P4.50 to P141.50. Bank of the Philippine Islands was down P1.50 to P108.
