PSEi up as Fed readies anew to tamp down inflation

MANILA  -The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) crawled higher on Thursday as investors weighed developments overseas.

The PSEi added 0.13 percent, or 8.64 points, to 6,511.49 while the broader All Shares index rose 0.06 percent, or 2.08 points, to 3,465.89.

“Philippine shares edged higher as investors digested [US Federal Reserve] chair Jerome Powell’s latest comments about the tightening cycle,” Luis Gerardo Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development, said in a note to investors on Thursday.

“[P]owell said more restrictive policy is still to come as the Fed continues to fight inflation. Investors will monitor Powell’s comments at a conference in Madrid (in Spain) on Thursday,” he added.

Fed’s Powell does not rule out rate rise at coming meetings

A total of 1.07 billion shares valued at P6.79 billion changed hands while foreigners were net buyers of an amount totaling P414.74 million.

The daily volume rose after a P2.3-billion block sale of shares of Holcim Philippines was completed. Major shareholder Holderfin B.V. acquired the shares of Sumitomo Osaka Cement as part of a broader plan to take the cement giant private.

PSE subsectors were mainly up as financials, property, industrial and holding firms rose while services and mining and oil slumped.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. was the top traded stock as it added 1.50 percent to P33.80 per share.

It was followed by First Philippine Holdings Corp., up 0.33 percent to P60.30; SM Investments Corp., down 0.33 percent to P916; BDO Unibank Inc., up 1.39 percent to P138.90; and Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 0.82 percent to P110.

Stocks shrug off inflation angst, yen bows to dollar