MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) closed lower today as investors continued to digest the latest inflation figures. The index closed at 7186.71, lower by 46.86 points or 0.65 percent. The broader all-share index is down by 0.46 percent.
Most of the sub-indices are down for the day except for the Industrial and Service sectors. The worst performing sub-index is the Property sector, which is down by 1.27 percent. Next to it is the Holding sub-index, which is lower by 1.12 percent.
Within the Property space, ALI led the decline to close at 36.70 down by 2.39 percent. SMPH is lower by 0.95 percent to close at 36.65.
RLC is down by 0.91 percent at 19.50, while VLL is lower by 0.49 percent to close at 6.09.
Within the Holdings sector, SM dropped by 1.24 percent to close at 879. AC is down by 1.86 percent at 898, and AEV by 2.30 percent at 53.10.
The most active stocks today include MBT with PHP 522.52 million in traded value, ALI with PHP 403.23 million, and BDO with PHP 279 million.
The significant gainers include WIN by 24.00 percent, ECP by 10.09 percent, PHES by 6.98 percent, and NOW by 6.74 percent.
The notable losers include MHC by 15.19 percent, IRC by 11.05 percent, ISM by 10.27 percent, and VUL by 8.72 percent.
There were 65 advancers and 127 decliners, while 45 names remain unchanged.
The market turnover totaled PHP 4.86 billion. Foreigners bought PHP 2.29 billion worth of Philippine equities and sold PHP 2.93 billion resulting in a net foreign selling of PHP 637.98 million.
Given the latest figures released last year, most economists believe that the industry needs a more tightening policy from the BSP. Experts have been pointing out that the BSP has kept interest rates at low levels for quite some time.
The most recent hike was on May 10, 2018 — almost four years from the last approved increase on September 2014.
Nevertheless, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) hopes that inflation will start to ease by the end of the year and will peak in the third quarter.
The request for a provisional increase in the fare hike in jeepneys has recently been approved. The approval of the PHP1 hike rolled out on the first four kilometers in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and the Cavite-Batangas-Laguna-Rizal-Quezon region.
Oil is also expected to continually rise in the third quarter, which may add more to the inflation figures.
Trade and tariff wars in the international market also weigh down on the exchange rate.
The next BSP monetary policy meeting is scheduled for August 9, 2018.
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