By Komfie Manalo
Investors rallied on Friday, with the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gaining for the fifth day, closing at 6,411.911, up by 0.33%. All Shares also increased by 0.26% to 3,486.66.
“Investors cheered the BSP’s (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) signal of a possible rate cut by their August meeting, as well as its downward revision of the inflation forecast for this year and next year to 3.1%, within the government’s target of two to four percent,” Philstock Financials, Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.
Among indices, Mining, Oil, and Financials recorded losses at 0.86 and 0.51 percent, respectively.
“The market returned above the 6,400 level, with a strong net market value turnover at PH5.92 billion, higher than the P4.4 billion average this month,” Alviar added.
The biggest winner for the day was the Holding Firms index, with shares up by 0.93 percent. This was followed by Property (+0.50 percent), services (+0.49 percent), and Industrial (+0.10 percent).
Advancers led decliners at 109 to 85, leaving 52 unchanged.
Meanwhile, the peso strengthened on the week’s last day of trading, following the central bank’s statement that inflation is expected to ease by the second half of the year. The local currency closed the week strong, gaining 0.14 to close at 58.61 to the US dollar from last day’s 58.75 finish.
The local currency started the day intense at 58.70, from Thursday’s kick-off at 58.88 to a dollar.
The exchange rate ranged between 58.58 and 58.72, with an average rate of 58.66 to the greenback.
The trade volume decreased by $39 million to $1.166 billion from $1.205 billion.