MANILA – The wait-and-see stance on the Federal Reserve’s decision this week made investors wary, resulting in the negative close of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Wednesday, but the peso finished sideways against the US dollar.
The main stocks index shed 0.47 percent, or 34.6 points, to 7,253.61 points due partly to the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) two-day meeting from January 25 to 26.
All Shares followed after it declined by 0.22 percent, or 8.37 points, to 3,856.11 points.
Majority of the sectoral indices tracked the main gauge --Financials, 1.01 percent; Property, 0.56 percent; Services, 0.41 percent; Holding Firms, 0.19 percent; and Industrial, 0.13 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil index rose during the day with a jump of 1.11 percent.
Volume reached nearly 1.5 billion shares worth PHP6.4 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 102 to 78, while 60 shares were unchanged.
Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales Luis Limlingan traced the outcome in the local bourse’s trading during the day to the ongoing FOMC meeting and the announcement regarding the domestic economy’s 2021 fourth quarter output.
“Officials are expected to signal their willingness to raise rates in March to battle surging inflation. On top of this, geopolitical tension at the Russia-Ukraine border continued to loom over global markets,” he said.
Citing reports, Limlingan said US President Joe Biden spoke with European authorities on Monday despite fears of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On the local front, he said investors are all eyes for the domestic economy’s fourth quarter 2021 performance, which the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is scheduled to announce on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day’s trade at 51.29 to a greenback, little changed from its 51.26 close a day ago.
It opened the day at 51.25, an improvement from the previous session’s 51.35.
It traded between 51.305 and 51.18, bringing the day’s average to 51.24.
Volume slipped to USD787.8 million from Tuesday’s USD1.04 billion. (PNA)
