MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained Tuesday despite a report about the more than two-year high domestic inflation rate in August, while the peso ended the day sideways against the US dollar.
The main equities index rose by 0.52 percent, or 35.61 points, to 6,912.71 points.
All Shares increased by 0.47 percent, or 20.03 points, to 4,275.76 points.
Half of the sectoral indexes tracked the main gauge with the Services rising 1.03 percent; Holding Firms, 0.99 percent; and Property, 0.32 percent.
On the other hand, the Financials index slipped by 0.63 percent, Mining and Oil by 0.35 percent, and Industrial by 0.14 percent.
Volume reached 1.96 billion shares amounting to PHP5.4 billion.
Gainers surpassed losers at 119 to 76, while 41 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, said the main index gained after the Labor Day holiday in the US and following the decline in US benchmarks last week.
“Investors also brushed off the latest inflation print, which showed an acceleration in August of 4.9 percent,” he said.
The country’s inflation rate last August was the highest since 4.4 percent in January 2019.
Limlingan said the consensus inflation forecast for last month is 4.4 percent, “which pointed to (an) most already an uptick due to higher electricity, oil, and food prices.”
He also cited as a factor for the PSEi’s positive close to the Japan Credit Rating Agency’s (JCRA) decision on Monday to affirm its A-rating for the Philippines because of the domestic economy’s resilience, relatively low debt level, and unimpaired fiscal position.
Meanwhile, the peso ended sideways against the US dollar after finishing the trade at 50.025 from 49.925 a day ago.
It opened the day at 49.95, and traded between 50.04 and 49.87.
Average level for the day stood at 49.948.
Volume totaled to USD788.45 million, higher than the previous session’s USD717.4 million. (PNA)
