Market Recap
Philippine share prices were in an upbeat mood and bucked sleepy sessions across the region as well as on Wall Street overnight, with China still on holiday and no major economic data on the diary.
The bellwether PSEi gained 41.85 points or 0.52% to 8,100.30 at the close. The broader All Shares added 13.09 points or 0.27% to 4,906.57.
The market recovered on likely upbeat signals from central bank’s monetary policy meeting.
After cashing in on gains yesterday after cheering the better-than-expected January inflation print, investors aggressively continued to get back into the market and bought into positions with cheaper valuations.
The central bank’s policy-setting Monetary Board (MB) was widely expected to keep its interest rates untouched during its review today at the 4.25% to 5.25% range, taking its cue from the dovish tone of US central bank officials as well as the softening local inflation.
On Tuesday, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that inflation stood slowed to 4.4% in January, slower than the 5.1% tallied in December.
Emerging markets are a lot more instinctive to bullishness after the Fed shifted its stance.
Markets are still waiting on developments in the Sino-U.S. trade dispute after President Donald Trump offered little new to chew on in his State of the Union speech.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he and other US officials will travel to Beijing next week for trade talks, aiming to clinch a deal to avert a March 2 increase in US tariffs on Chinese goods.
More than 3.431-bil shares, valued at P7.418-bil, changed hands. Market breadth was negative as decliners outnumbered advancers, 115 to 96, and 47 issues were unchanged.
