MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended Monday up even ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting decision, among others, while the peso ended little changed against the US dollar.
The main equities gauge finished the day at 8,188.52 points, up 0.06 percent or 4.53 points.
“Investors kept from taking any big bets today as this week was marked for the Fed and Trade Talk Watch,” Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan said.
FOMC will start its two-day meeting late Monday (Philippine time) and Limlingan said expectations are for a 25-basis point cut in the Fed rates after the meeting “as virtually all the signals from the Committee point this way.”
He, on the other hand, said that since decision will be announced Wednesday night (Manila time) this factor “has kept many at bay.”
Meanwhile, some US officials are bound for China Monday for the first high-level, face-to-face meeting with Chinese officials after trade discussions suffered last May.
“People familiar say it’s a positive step, but warned a quick deal is unlikely,” he said, citing that “(US) President (Donald) Trump says China may want to wait until after the 2020 election because Beijing would prefer to reach a deal with a Democrat,” he added.
Another news from the US is the slower gross domestic product (GPD) for the second quarter this year at 2.1 percent from quarter-ago’s 3.1 percent. This output, however, is better than expectations for a 1.8 percent growth.
With these, All Shares gained 0.15 percent, or 7.44 points, to 4,963.04 points.
Most of the sectors also rose, led by the Mining and Oil with 0.63 percent. It was followed by the Property, 0.43 percent; Holding Firms, 0.12 percent; and Financials, 0.02 percent.
Volume was thin at 667.34 million shares amounting to PHP4.84 billion.
Losers led gainers at 100 to 91 while 53 shares were unchanged.
Relatively, the peso ended the week’s first trading day at 51.09 from last Friday’s 51.055, which a trader pointed to a wait-and-see stance ahead of the FOMC decision announcement.
It opened the day at 51.005, better than its 51.2 start at the end of last week.
It traded between 51.1 and 50.93, resulting to an average of 51.016.
Volume reached USD767.25 million, lower than the previous session’s USD859.34 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.90 and 51.10 Tuesday. (PNA)
