By Joann Villanueva/PNA
MANILA — A promise from the US Federal Reserve that it would be more circumspect about future rate increases while keeping an eye on economic developments was the assurance that local markets needed to drive them forward on Thursday.
The Philippine peso ended the day at 52.12, a big jump from the 52.345 finish Wednesday.
A trader attributed this to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s assurances coupled with the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to keep rates steady at between 2 percent and 2.25 percent after their two-day meeting Wednesday.
The peso opened trade at 52.25, better than its 52.43 start the previous day.
Its closing level was the its weakest for the day after it surged to 52.09 during mid-trade. This brought the day’s average to 52.16.
Volume for the day reached USD1.01 billion, higher than Wednesday’s USD933.32 million.
Relatively, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.35 percent, or 27.53 points, to 8,007.48 points.
It was tracked by most of the counters, with the broader All Shares rising to 4,829.85 points, up 0.11 percent or 5.32 points.
The sectors were led by the Holding Firms after it rose to 0.96 percent and was followed by the Mining and Oil, 0.40 percent; Services, 0.33 percent; Industrial, 0.26 percent; and Financials, 0.12 percent.
Only Property ended on the red after it declined 0.57 percent.
Volume reached 2.7 billion shares amounting to PHP10.8 billion.
Losers led gainers at 110 to 97 while 41 shares were unchanged.