Market climbs ahead of BSP meeting

MANILA, Philippines —  The stock market climbed for the second straight day ahead of the outcome of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) policy meeting.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index settled at 6,854.53, up by 0.39 percent or 26.61 points.

The All Shares index also rose by 0.32 percent or 11.35 points to close at 3,588.23.

“Local shares edged higher as investors digested the implications of the hotter-than-expected US inflation print and braced for the upcoming BSP policy-setting meeting,” Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said.

Philstocks Financial said the market briefly dipped into the red territory earlier into yesterday’s session as US inflation rate came in hotter than expected, heightening the possibility that the Federal Reserve might not cut interest rates as early as investors’ had hoped.

“On the other hand, unlike the unexpected inflation rate spike in the US, the Philippines’ inflation rate was easing and still within expectation, leading investors to look forward to the meeting of the BSP,” Philstocks said in a report.

The BSP Monetary Board is widely expected to leave key policy rates untouched this week as authorities want to keep policy setting sufficiently tight until a sustained downtrend in inflation becomes evident.

Headline inflation eased further to 2.8 percent in January, the lowest in more than three years, from 3.9 percent in December.

Local counters were mixed, with services and mining & oil both in the red, dropping by 0.24 percent and 1.51 percent, respectively.