Stock market rises; Globe tops gainers
STOCKS rose Wednesday and the peso rebounded against the US dollar, as investors expect the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to raise the benchmark interest rates again to contain the elevated inflation.
The PSE index, the 30-company benchmark of the Philippine Stock Exchange, gained 32 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 6,615.07, as five of the six subsectors advanced.
The broader all-share index also went up 17 points, or 0.5 percent, to settle at 3,449.57 on 62,479 trades of 5.5 billion shares.
Six of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Globe Telecom Inc. which climbed 3.1 percent to P2,224.00 and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company which rose 2 percent to P55.10.
Meanwhile, the peso rebounded Wednesday to close at 55.74 against the US dollar from 55.9 on Tuesday. Investors were expecting the BSP to implement an interest rate adjustment of at least 50 basis points Thursday.
Globally, investors welcomed softer-than-expected US inflation data that could allow the Federal Reserve to slow down its pace of interest rate hikes.
The reading provided some muchneeded Christmas cheer on trading floors and came the day before the US central bank’s last policy decision of the year, which will be pored over for clues about its plans for 2023.
There is also some focus on China as it continues to roll back its strict zero-Covid strategy that has battered the world’s number two economy, though fears of a sharp surge in infections are causing some unease among dealers.
All three main indexes on Wall Street ended in positive territory Tuesday in reaction to data showing consumer prices rose 7.1 percent last month, less than forecast and the slowest pace since December 2021.
The reading followed an October slowdown and fueled hopes that inflation has finally peaked, after several months of Fed rate hikes.
It “came with the caveat that it was ‘just one month of data’ but the November numbers add further weight to the interpretation that the long-awaited goods disinflation is showing up in the data,” said National Australia Bank’s Taylor Nugent.
Asian markets tracked Wall Street higher, though the gains were limited ahead of the Fed meeting with traders accepting that seven percent inflation was still very high. With AFP