THE peso and stock market continued to fall on Thursday ahead of the release of US inflation data that could provide cues about the likely outcome of next month’s Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The currency weakened by 34 centavos to P57.36 against the dollar, while the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 13.05 points, or 0.18 percent, to end the day at 7.411.47.
The broader All Shares gained 4.16 points, or 0.10 percent, to 4,037.52.
The peso opened at P57.15:$1 and ranged from P57.11 to P57.36. Volume reached P1.568 billion, slightly lower than the previous day’s P1.582 billion.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the peso fell as the dollar rose against major global currencies.
Philstocks Financial Inc. research manager Japhet Tantiangco, meanwhile, said “investors continued to take profits amid the peso’s sustained depreciation, now going further below the 57.00 [to the dollar] mark.”
“Trading was still tepid with net value turnover registering P4.05 billion, below the year-to-date average of P5.21 billion,” he added, while “foreigners were net sellers for a 2nd straight day with net outflows amounting to P73.58 million.”
Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan, for his part, said “Philippine shares still closed slightly lower as investors now await the [US] September CPI (consumer price index) and PPI (producer price index) reports…”
“Locally, the weakening peso also dragged the PSEi closer to, as cautious Fed signals on rate cuts and strong US jobs data weighed on sentiment,” he added.
Sector indices were mixed, with property leading those in the green by growing 0.55 percent. Services index lost the most, slipping 1.55 percent.
Decliners outnumbered gainers, 111 to 99, while 48 were unchanged.
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