MANILA, Philippines — Philippine stocks continued to post gains yesterday driven by the dovish outlook of the US Federal Reserve as well as the decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to keep rates unchanged.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed 1.06 percent or 67.96 points higher at 6,478.44 yesterday, while the broader All Shares index closed 0.43 percent or 14.59 points down at 3,409.55.
“Philippine shares logged in another winning day after the Fed stated that its efforts to ease inflation are taking hold, and indicated three interest rate cuts next year,” Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said.
Philstocks Financial’s Claire Alviar echoed Limlingan’s sentiment.
“The prevailing optimism, mirroring the trends in Asian markets, persisted after the Federal Reserve provided a dovish outlook in 2024,” she said.
Alviar also cited the BSP’s decision to leave interest rates untouched last Thursday as a factor that boosted investors’ sentiment.
“Back home, the PSEi closed closer to the 6,500 mark after the BSP policy rate announcement, and as investors bet on potential rate cuts in 2024,” Limlingan added.
Majority of the sectoral indices closed in the green yesterday, with holding firms posting the largest gain at 3.38 percent or 209.37 points higher to close at 6,395.16 percent.
This was followed by the service index with a 1.14 percent or 17.58-point increase to 1,563.86.
In contrast, property posted the largest decline yesterday at 1.39 percent or 39.76 points lower to close at 2,811.38.
Similarly, mining and oil also posted a 0.54 percent decline to close 52.03 points lower at 9,521.86.
A total of 67,996 trades valued at P10.2 billion were made yesterday, while volume turnover stood at 897 million.
Declines outnumbered advances 86 to 85 while 42 remained unchanged.