PSEi climbs ahead of rate verdict

MANILA  -The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) advanced ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) announcement on Thursday to keep interest rates steady, which came after a preemptive rate hike last month.

The PSEi rose 0.33 percent, or 20.35 points, to 6,191.48 while the broader All Shares index was up 0.20 percent, or 6.77 points, to 3,314.49.

The Monetary Board kept the policy rate unchanged after an off-cycle 25-basis point hike last Oct. 26 as the BSP lowered the full-year 2023 inflation forecast to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent.

READ: BSP keeps key policy rate at 6.5%

Data from the exchange showed 411.32 million shares valued at P3.9 billion changing hands while net foreign buying hit P484.5 million.

Most PSE subsectors closed higher, led by financials (+0.59 percent) and industrials (+0.45 percent). Mining and oil, the sole loser, was down 0.34 percent. BDO Unibank Inc. was the top traded stock as it slipped 0.84 percent to P129.40 per share.

It was followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 1.05 percent to P211; Universal Robina Corp., down 2.15 percent to P109; Jollibee Foods Corp., up 3.69 percent to P225; and GT Capital Holdings Inc., up 1.06 percent to P570 per share.

SM Investments Corp. was up 0.42 percent to P842.50; Ayala Land Inc., up 1.02 percent to P29.80; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 2.60 percent to P106.70; Emperador Inc., up 0.24 percent to P20.80; and SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 0.16 percent to P31.65 per share.

Overall, there were 88 advancers against 81 decliners while 48 companies closed unchanged, data from the stock exchange showed.