PH stocks defy regional decline

The local stock barometer outperformed regional markets on Tuesday as investors were relieved that the country’s May inflation rate of 4.6 percent was not as high as anticipated by the market.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 106.15 points or 1.4 percent to close at 7,685.76, supported mostly by domestic investors.

“May inflation surprised on the downside as food, nonalcoholic beverage and utilities posted month-on-month disinflation. This brought annualized headline inflation to only 4.6 percent, below the market’s median forecast of 4.9 percent and at the low end of (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) BSP’s forecast of 4.6 percent to 5.4 percent,” ING Philippines economist Joey Cuyegkeng said.

“We believe that recent developments would mean that inflation is at or near the peak. These developments also cut the pressure on BSP to hike policy rates this month. However, we still expect BSP to hike policy rates at the June 21 meeting to preempt second-round effects and stabilize inflation expectations,” the economist said.

All counters ended higher, led by holding firms, which added 2.32 percent. The services and mining/oil counters rose by more than 1 percent while the financial, industrial and property counters also firmed up.

Value turnover was still thin at P5.41 billion. Also, foreign investors remained net sellers to the tune of P673.32 million for the day.

There were 112 advancers that edged out 84 decliners while 53 companies were unchanged.