MANILA – Concerns on the possibility of an earlier-than-expected increase in the Federal Reserve rates resulted in the negative close of both the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEI) and the peso on Monday.
The main equities index shed by 0.35 percent, or 24.21 points, to 6,827.17 points.
This is the theme of most of the counters, with the All Shares down by 0.29 percent, or 12.16 points, to 4,154.74 points.
Holding Firms index registered the highest drop among the sectoral indexes after it fell by 1.39 percent and was trailed by the Mining and Oil, 1.16 percent; Industrial and Services, both at 0.48 percent; and Financials, 0.06 percent.
Only the Property index gained during the day after it rose by 1.18 percent.
Volume totaled 2.43 billion shares amounting to PHP5.86 billion.
Losers led gainers at 138 to 64, while 50 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares slipped to start the week due to the hints given by the Fed that interest rate raises could start sooner than expected, stirring concerns among investors,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
He said Wall Street had its worst week since October 2020 following the hawkish statement from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard.
This after Bullard said the Fed should start hiking rates in the latter part of 2022, ahead of the 2023 projection by most Fed officials.
Meanwhile, the peso finished the day at 48.695 from 48.43 Friday last week.
It opened the day at 48.48, sideways from its 48.42 start in the previous session.
It traded between 48.725 and 48.47, resulting in an average of 48.63.
Volume totaled to USD1.34 billion, higher than the USD1.07 billion in the previous session. (PNA)
