PH stocks index finishes ‘23 first trading day up, peso sideways


MANILA – The Philippines’ main equities index finished the year’s first trading day up ahead of the release of several major economic reports in the US, and the peso ended sideways against the US dollar.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 0.30 percent, or 19.62 points, to 6,586.01 points.

All Shares followed with a jump of 0.42 percent, or 14.66 points, to 3,476.70 points.

Most of the sectoral gauge also ended with gains, namely the Mining and Oil, 3.87 percent; Industrial, 2.09 percent; Services, 0.48 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.24 percent.

On the other hand, Property slipped by 1.08 percent and Financials by 0.10 percent.

Volume reached 2.01 billion shares amounting to PHP3.43 billion.

Advancers led decliners at 94 to 89 while 50 shares were unchanged.

“Philippine shares started the year on a high note, brushing off the specters of 2022 to make way for the year ahead,” Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales, said.

He said several reports are due this week and these include the December 2022 jobs report and the minutes of the December 2022 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

On the domestic front, among the releases include the S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), the inflation data for December 2022, and the unemployment rate.

Limlingan also noted the rise in global oil prices at the end of 2022, by nearly 3 percent for the Brent crude oil to USD85.91 per barrel and by around 2.4 percent for the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to USD80.26 per barrel.

Relatively, the local currency ended the trade at 55.79, little changed from its 55.75 close on Dec. 29, 2022.

It opened the day at 55.7, weaker than its 56.17 start during the last trading day of last year.

It traded between 55.91 and 55.6, resulting to an average of 55.746.

Volume reached USD 853.65 million, higher than the USD807.8 million in the previous session.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort traced the peso’s sideways close partly to the rise in the government’s liabilities as of November 2022 to PHP13.644 trillion and the rise in oil prices in the international market, which affected other commodities.

He eyes the peso’s immediate major support level at between 55.50-55.70 “which helps keep the recent upward correction intact.”

For Wednesday, he forecasts the peso to trade between 55.70-55.90 to a greenback. (PNA) 

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