Share prices ended lower Thursday on profit taking while the local curreny continue to recover.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 45.79 points to 6,734.99, a 0.68 percent drop. The broader all shares index was down 12.95 points to 3,501.03, a 0.37 percent drop.
Gainers edged losers 112 to 77 with 40 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P10.11 billion.
The peso closed at 56.22 to the dollar, up from 56.56 on Tuesday. The currency opened at 56.45, hitting a high of 56.10 and a low of 56.45. Trading turnover reached $898.7 million.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., noted that the market started December on profit taking, “with investors selling on news, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statement, signaling slower rate hikes.”
“Although, Powell cautioned the Fed may stay with restrictive policy for a long time before it ends its inflation fight. Investors’ focus Thursday turns to initial jobless claims ahead of the much anticipated November jobs report due out Friday,” he said.
Most actively traded GT Capital Holdings Inc. was up P11 to P450. SM Investments Corp. was up P41 to P980. Jollibee Foods Corp. was down P4.40 to P240.60. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P0.10 to P130. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down P8.20 to P196.80. Ayala Land Inc. was down P1.90 to P29.60. Universal Robina Corp. was up P2.20 to P135.20. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P1.20 to P35.20.
Indonesia’s rupiah surged more than 1 percent on Thursday as fears of rate hikes lingered after inflation stayed above the central bank’s target range, while a slide in the US dollar on signs of the Federal Reserve easing its pace of policy tightening added heft, Reuters reported.
The rupiah, which has shed more than 8 percent this year, firmed as much as 1.3 percent and enjoyed its best day in nearly three weeks, after data showed Indonesia’s inflation eased in November but stayed above the central bank’s target range of 2 percent-4 percent.
Bank Indonesia (BI) would maintain a front-loaded and pre-emptive interest rate policy next year to control inflation, Governor Perry Warjiyo said on Wednesday.
“Core inflation was tagged as one of the main factors that would drive any BI policy adjustment and we will need to see this head much lower before BI considers reversing its current hawkish stance,” said Nicholas Mapa, a senior economist at ING.
“One other factor that could keep BI on the hiking path would be the Indonesian rupiah…
We expect BI to follow through with a rate hike in December although we could see BI slow its pace of tightening as early as next year.”
Broader strength in Asia was supported by comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell overnight, while easing COVID curbs in China also provided investors with some respite.
“The (Powell’s) speech seemingly provided markets some clarity that the down-shifting is coming earlier than expected, as markets were previously still split in their expectations for December,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
Malaysia’s ringgit hit a more than five-month high against the US dollar and firmed 1 percent. The currency has strengthened about 2 percent since the appointment of a new prime minister last week, but is still down 5.5 percent for the year.
Thailand’s baht, which gained on Wednesday after the central bank raised rates by 25 basis points, climbed a further 0.5 percent to its highest level since June 29. –with Reuters
