Stocks near 2-month high

MANILA, Philippines — Stocks vaulted up for the third straight session yesterday, with the main index returning to the 6,400 territory to end at a near two-month high, driven by a spate a positive third quarter corporate earnings and ahead of an expected super-sized rate hike by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Traders said the market also continued to climb as investors placed their bets on local shares after the US Federal Reserve’s remarks of more rate hikes going forward.

The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index or PSEi gained 64.18 points or 1.01 percent to finish at 6,418.94 while the broader All Shares index added 26.99 points (0.81 percent) to close at 3,379.58.

A total of P5.1 billion worth of shares changed hands, with advancers edging decliners, 102 to 83, while 49 issues were unchanged.

Active stocks yesterday were SM Prime Holdings, which was down by 1.55 percent to end at P34.95 per share; Ayala Corp., which rose by 2.38 percent to P687 per share; Converge ICT which gained 8.91 percent to P13.94 per share; SM Investments Corp. which rallied by 3.33 percent to P870 per share; Universal Robina Corp. which gained 1.49 percent to P129.80 per share; BDO which slipped by 0.07 percent to P134 per share; Jollibee Foods Corp. which was nearly flat at P248 per share or up by 0.08 percent; Ayala Land Inc. which gained 0.37 percent to P27.30 per share; ICTSI which rose by 1.55 percent to P184.80 per share and Semirara Mining & Power Corp. which was down by 0.33 percent to P29.95 per share.

Except for the property sector, all sub-indexes ended in the green.

Investors are positioning ahead of a scheduled monetary policy meeting tomorrow, where the central bank is expected to hike interest rates further.

The BSP is expected to deliver another jumbo 75-basis-point rate hike tomorrow to combat soaring inflation and limit weakening in the peso, according to a Reuters poll.

Around Asia, markets were likewise higher as investors sought to digest the economic implications of China’s COVID-19 policy adjustments and a rescue package for the country’s struggling property sector.