MANILA – The local bourse strengthened on Wednesday amid strong Philippine economic growth projections and anticipated rate cut by the Federal Reserve, while the peso also closed stronger against the dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 20.62 points to 6,687.71, while the broader All Shares gained 8.69 points to 3,594.62.
"The local bourse rose by 30.62 points (0.31%) to reach 6,687.71 due to positive cues from Wall Street overnight, amid optimism towards second quarter corporate results and hopes of a rate cut soon by the Federal Reserve," Philstock Financials, Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.
"Moreover, sentiment was further lifted as some institutions maintained their economic growth projections for the Philippines at around 6%, despite a slight downward revision by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office," Alviar added.
Sector indices were mixed with the Miners leading the gainers, increasing by 4.27 percent, while Properties lost the most by 0.34 percent.
Advancers led decliners at 97 to 95, leaving 42 unchanged.
The peso, meanwhile, closed at 58.295 against the dollar, stronger than the 58.385 finish on Tuesday.
The local currency started the day at 58.33 and traded between 58.295 to 58.4.
The weighted average for the day was at 58.347.
Volume of trade, however, declined to USD1.24 billion from USD1.41 billion the previous day. (PNA)
