PSEi advances ahead of BSP meeting

MANILA, Philippines — A possible rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and positive cues from Wall Street amid hopes that the conflict between Iran and Israel would not escalate further buoyed the local share prices yesterday.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) advanced by 0.17 percent or 10.61 points to close the session at 6,369.19.

The broader All Shares index followed suit, increasing by 0.41 percent or 15.41 points to settle at 3,783.86.

“The PSEi corrected slightly higher ahead of the possible -0.25 BSP rate cut on Thursday that could further reduce borrowing costs/funding costs by listed companies, consumers, institutions and other borrowers in the economy,” RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort said.

Ricafort said the local market was likewise boosted by reports of Iran signaling that it would like to de-escalate the conflict with Israel and willingness to resume nuclear talks with the United States.

The positive developments also led to a rebound in US equities on Monday.

All local counters were in the positive territory, except for financials, which slipped by 0.24 percent.

The industrial index led the charge with a 1.18-percent jump.

Trading remained robust as total value turnover amounted to P5.94 billion.

Advancers squashed decliners, 124 to 82, while 42 issues did not change.

BDO Unibank was yesterday’s most active stock, declining by 1.26 percent to P157 per share, followed by DigiPlus and Manila Water, which climbed by 2.65 percent and 8.29 percent, respectively, to P64 and P37.90.