MANILA -Philippine stocks followed Wall Street lower as the US Federal Reserve and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) hiked interest rates anew to tamp down stubborn inflation.
By the closing bell, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slumped 0.15 percent, or 9.91 points, to 6,536.36 while the broader All Shares index shed 0.21 percent, or 7.20 points, to 3,492.77.
US stocks tumbled overnight after the US central bank raised the benchmark rate by another 25 basis points while US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said they were not looking to provide blanket insurance for bank deposits after doing so for failed lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Yellen says not considering ‘blanket insurance’ for all U.S. bank deposits
Philippine central bank raises key policy rate by 25 bps
After trading hours, the BSP announced it would also hike the domestic benchmark rate by 25 basis points.
Trading volume stayed relatively weak as investors digested the news. A total of 428.161 million shares valued at P3.7 billion changed hands while foreigners were mostly sellers as they netted P395.66 million, stock exchange data showed.
Mining and oil rose 0.37 percent while the other indices fell lower, led by services (-0.48 percent), industrial (-0.32 percent), financials (-0.25 percent), holding firms (-0.06 percent) and property (-0.002 percent).
Globe Telecom was the top traded stock on Thursday as it rose 0.54 percent to P1,848 per share.
It was followed by BDO Unibank Inc., down 1.74 percent to P124; SM Investments Corp., flat at P900; Jollibee Foods Corp., down 1.76 percent to P223; and PLDT Inc., down 1.59 percent to P1,359 per share.
SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up 0.15 percent to P34; International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 0.50 percent to P201; Ayala Land Inc., up 0.53 percent to P28.35; and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., down 1.11 percent to P3.55.
Overall, there were 98 losers against 56 advancers while 62 companies closed unchanged.