Peso gains but PSEi plummets

THE peso rose further on Friday but the stock market plunged back to the 6,400 level to close out the first quarter.

The currency strengthened by 5-and-a-half centavos to P54.36 against dollar while the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index dropped 145.07 points, or 2.18 percent, to end the week at 6,499.68.

The broader All Shares also went down, by 45.36 points, or 1.28 percent, to 3,493.37.

“Local shares declined heavily with the 6,500 level support getting easily breached as investors concluded the quarter,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said.

“Notable market-on-close descents for Friday include Monde Nissin, Aboitiz Equity Ventures and JG Summit Holdings, which all dropped by double digits,” he added.

“The property sector was heavily strained the most following the release of the fourth quarter of 2022 housing prices data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which rose by 7.7 percent year on year.”

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort, meanwhile, said the fall followed news that net foreign portfolio investments had turned negative in February.

BSP Governor Felipe Medalla’s signaling that monetary authorities may not be ready yet to pause from hiking interest rates, hawkish signals from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials, market expectations of a 25-basis-point Fed rate hike in May 3, 2023 and recent local corporate developments “all weighed on sentiment today,” he added.

Claire Alviar, research associate at Philstocks Financial Inc., said that net foreign selling of P688.42 million also contributed to the market’s decline. She added that net market value turnover had risen to P5.73 billion, stronger compared to the past few trading days.

The peso opened trading at P54.35:$1 and ranged from P54.28 to P54.385. Volume reached $942.6 million, down from the previous day’s $1.009 trillion.

At the stock market, the services, and mining and oil indices were the only gainers, up 0.06 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively. Properties recorded the biggest loss at 3.43 percent, while holding firms followed at 3.13 percent.

On Friday, 627.11 million shares worth P6.175 billion changed hands.

Decliners overwhelmed advancers, 107 to 73, while 47 remained unchanged.

ED PAOLO SALTING AND NIÑA MYKA PAULINE ARCEO