MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) recovered on Wednesday as foreign investors kept their distance from US equities due in part to inflation concerns, and the peso mirrored this performance.
The main equities index rose by 0.71 percent, or 48.75 points, to 6,934.11 points.
All Shares rose by 0.29 percent, or 12.29 points, to 4,297.01 points.
Half of the sectoral indexes ended the day in the positive territory, with Holding Firms gaining by 1.51 percent; Property, 0.60 percent; and Services, 0.24 percent.
On the other hand, the Industrial index fell by 0.57 percent, Financials by 0.21 percent, and Mining and Oil by 0.07 percent.
Volume totaled 1.99 billion shares amounting to PHP9.88 billion.
Losers led gainers at 109 to 85, while 49 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, attributed PSEi’s rise to fund managers going back to the local bourse and away from US equities, which experienced a sell-off following the rise in US interest rates.
“Prospect of the world’s leading central banks moving more aggressively to stamp out inflation rattled financial markets on Tuesday, with Treasury yields trading near three-month highs,” he said.
The US treasury yield rose to 1.567 percent, which is the highest since June this year.
Meanwhile, the peso improved against the US dollar after closing the day at 50.865 from 51.00 a day ago.
It opened the day flat at 50.95 and traded between 51.00 and 50.82.
The average level for the day stood at 50.959.
Volume totaled USD1.106 billion, lower than the previous session’s USD1.209 billion. (PNA)
