MANILA – The local stock barometer gained on Tuesday due to bargain hunting while the peso ended the trade sideways.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 0.68 percent, or 45.80 points, to 6,809.72 points.
All Shares followed with a jump of 0.43 percent, or 17.51 points, to 4,117.13 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also rose during the day, namely Property, 0.98 percent, Holding Firms, 0.91 percent; Services, 0.27 percent; Industrial, 0.22 percent, and Financials, 0.11 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil index posted losses at the close of trading as it dropped by 0.17 percent.
Volume totaled 2.37 billion shares amounting to PHP5.29 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 110 to 93, while 49 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, attributed PSEi’s rise to bargain hunting “as investors awaited more economic data release.”
“As of now, many are reading into the latest banking data to give clues as to how much time it would take the economy to recover,” he said.
Bank lending growth remains tepid despite the liquidity boost measures introduced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) since the pandemic started in 2020 with banks still cautious vis-à-vis the impact of the pandemic on borrowers.
Initial data from the central bank showed that bank lending, excluding placements in the BSP’s reverse repurchase (RRP) facility, fell by 5 percent year-on-year last April after a 4.5-percent dip in the previous month.
Aside from investors’ wait-and-see stance, Limlingan said “others monitored commodities as prices fell from their two-year high as OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to keep its supply curbs in place and over expectations of demand recovery.”
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day sideways against the greenback at 47.72 from 47.66 a day ago.
It opened the day at 47.65, little changed from its 47.68 start on Monday.
The local currency traded between 47.73 and 47.645, resulting in an average of 47.69.
Volume declined to USD650.7 million compared to USD724 million a day ago. (PNA)
