PH shares hang tough as BSP eyes fresh rate hike

Philippine shares advanced ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) interest-rate setting meeting today, Feb. 16, while investors weighed an increase in remittances from Filipinos overseas.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index ended Wednesday’s session higher by 0.45 percent, or 30.85 points, to 6,822.09 while the broader All Shares index climbed 0.12 percent, or 4.53 points, to 6,636.18.

BSP data showed remittances from Filipinos overseas reached $3.49 billion in December 2022, rising by 5.7 percent from the same period the previous year.

This comes ahead of a Monetary Board meeting this afternoon, which could see the benchmark rate rise by a fresh 25 or 50 basis points after the January inflation print heated up to 8.7 percent.

A total of 1.1 billion shares valued at P5.3 billion changed hands while overseas investors were net buyers of an amount totaling P143.88 million. Services and mining and oil shed 1.24 percent and 0.76 percent, respectively. Gainers were led by the property sector, which increased by 1.57 percent.

BDO Unibank Inc. was the top traded stock as it ended flat at P125.50 per share.

In another development, Alternergy Holdings Corp., the renewable power firm founded by former Energy Secretary Vicente Perez, has set the offer period of its P1.87-billion public debut on March 13-17. The company would be listing under the stock symbol “Alter” on March 24, its prospectus showed.