PSEi advances further ahead of Holy Week break

MANILA, Philippines — Local stocks continued to advance ahead of the Holy Week break on hopes of lower US tariffs and further rate cuts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index gained by 40.58 points or 0.66 percent yesterday to close at 6,186.10.

The broader All Shares index likewise increased by 0.52 percent or 18.76 points to 3,646.65.

“The local market rose further as investors took cues from Wall Street’s climb overnight,” Philstocks Financial research manager Japhet Tantiangco said.

Tantiangco said that investors are pinning hopes on the possibility of a US-Philippines trade deal that could lead to lower tariffs.

According to Tantiangco, investors are also hopeful that the BSP would cut rates further moving forward to give the local economy a boost.

The BSP Monetary Board resumed its easing cycle as it slashed interest rates by 25 basis points on April 10 in the face of global headwinds from US sweeping tariffs.

Also helping the market rise for the fifth straight session were foreign investors, which remained net buyers with net inflows at P205.99 million.

Net value turnover improved to P4.05 billion from the previous day’s P3.19 billion.

All sectors were in the positive territory, except for mining and oil which slipped by 0.04 percent.

Industrial led the charge with a 1.30-percent jump, followed by financials which rose by 0.77 percent.

Advancers crushed decliners, 102 to 79, while 66 issues were unchanged.