PSEi rises on ‘dovish’ Fed

THE LOCAL stock barometer firmed up on Wednesday as a “dovish” signal from the US central bank boosted risk appetite across regional markets.

Ending a two-day decline, the Philippine gained 24.83 points or 0.34 percent to close at 7,299.23, tracking mostly firmer regional markets. This was after US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen reaffirmed signals that there was no rush for the central bank to raise interests.

“Fed Chair Yellen’s reiteration of the dovish message will help reduce uncertainty about the Fed’s reaction function,” Citigroup said in a research note on Wednesday, adding that its economists have now downgraded forecast for Fed tightening this year to only one hike.

At the local market, month- and quarter-end window-dressing also helped prop up equities.

The PSEi was led higher by the industrial sector which rose by 1.01 percent while services and property counters both gained. The holding firms and mining/oil counters both dipped.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P8.28 billion. There were 110 advancers that beat 85 decliners while 51 stocks were unchanged.

URC, Globe, RLC and FGEN all gained over 2 percent while ALI and AP advanced by over 1 percent.

MPIC, PLDT, BDO, Jollibee, Megaworld and GTCAP also firmed up.

Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers included specialty retailer SSI (+8.09 percent) and Security Bank (+5.08 percent).

On the other hand, AC fell by 1.01 percent while SMIC, Metrobank, SM Prime and JG Summit also slipped.