The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rallied for the third straight trading day on Wednesday while the peso closed flat against the US dollar.
The main stock gauge increased by 1.08 percent to 6,247.68, with All Shares also improving by 0.74 percent to 3,705.12 points.
Only the Industrial index ended with a loss after declining by 0.38 percent.
Financials was the day’s biggest winner after jumping 2.86 percent.
It was followed by Mining and Oil, up by 1.58 percent; Services, 1.20 percent; Property, 0.47 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.39 percent.
Advancers led decliners at 110 to 82, with 54 counters left unchanged.
“The market rose further amid expectations that inflation had remained cool last March, giving the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) more room to cut policy rates this April,” Philstocks Financial research manager Japhet Tantiangco said.
“Trading was still tepid, however, with net value turnover at PHP5.07 billion, below the year-to-date average of P5.30 billion. Foreigners were net sellers with net outflows at P259.87 million.”
Meanwhile, the peso closed at 57.21 to the US dollar mid-week, the same rate it ended before the previous day’s holiday.
It opened the day at 57.20 to the greenback before trading at a low of 57.15 and a high of 57.25, bringing the day’s average to 57.22.
Trade volume on Wednesday reached USD1.07 billion, lower than the USD1.18 billion on Monday.* PNA
