Investors disregard unemployment data as PSEi inches up

Philippine stocks saw a modest rebound on Wednesday after the government released data showing an uptick in unemployment, providing further clues on the health of the economy as investors bet on the outcome of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ interest rate-setting meeting next week.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 0.61 percent, or 41.82 points, to 6,923.08 while the broader All Shares index added 0.53 percent, or 19.26 points, to 3,675.01.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said on Wednesday the unemployment rate deteriorated to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent in December.

This adds to data up for review by the BSP after the inflation print breached expectations to reach 8.7 percent in January.

Mining and oil led gainers with a 3.48-percent jump, followed by financials (+1.58 percent), property (+1.34 percent), services (+0.67 percent) and industrial (+0.66 percent).

Holding firms, the sole loser, declined by 0.48 percent.

A total of 1.15 billion shares valued at P6.28 billion changed hands while foreigners were net sellers of an amount totaling P113.85 million, stock exchange data showed.

SM Investments Corp. was the top traded stock as it slipped 0.66 percent to P909 per share.

It was followed by Ayala Land Inc., up 0.52 percent to P29.20; Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., up 1.87 percent to P59.80; Nickel Asia Corp., up 4.35 percent to P7.44; and Ayala Corp., up 0.56 percent to P714 per share.

Overall, there were 115 advancers against 66 decliners while 53 companies closed unchanged, stock exchange data showed.