PSEi up ahead of MB meeting, peso continues to fall

By Kris Crismundo

October 15, 2024, 6:47 pm

MANILA – Local bourse sustained its recovery returning to the 7,400 level, while the peso further weakened on Tuesday’s trading.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEI) closed higher by 1.77 percent at 7,456.31, while All Shares also improved by 1.53 percent to 4,086.45 points.

Except for Mining and Oil, which slipped by 0.26 percent, all counters ended with gains.

The biggest improvement came from the Property sector, up 2.06 percent; followed by Holding Firms, 1.77 percent; Financials, 1.71 percent; Industrial, 1.43 percent; and Services, 1.37 percent.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said investors’ optimism came from expectations that the Monetary Board will cut anew key rates during its meeting on Wednesday.

“The PSEi again is higher ahead of the widely expected BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) rate cut of at least 0.25 on the next rate-setting meeting on October 16, 2024 as a source of new local market leads,” Ricafort said.

He added the continued growth in overseas Filipino remittances to near record-highs on a monthly basis also supported investors’ confidence on Tuesday’s trading.

Advancers outpaced losers at 124 to 92, leaving 45 counters unchanged.

Meanwhile, the Philippine peso continued to depreciate to 57.86 against the US dollar, losing 0.39, down from a close of 57.47 on Monday.

It opened weak at 57.46 before trading between 57.43 and 57.92, with the average level for the day at 57.65 to the greenback.

The volume of trade surged to USD1.47 billion from last day’s USD780.38 million.

“For tomorrow, the peso exchange rate could range at the 57.75-57.96 levels,” Ricafort said. (PNA)

Comments