Peso gains after 50 basis point rate hike

September 27, 2018

The Philippine peso recovered after falling to near 13-year intraday lows after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced an increase of 50 basis points in its policy rates on Thursday.

The peso closed at P54. 23 against the US dollar from P54.325 on Wednesday. Volume at the Bankers Association of the Philippines foreign exchange portal rose to $727.37 million from $623.4 million on the previous day.

This means rates are at their highest since 2011. Policy rates have been raised by 150 basis points during the last few months to curb inflation and support a weakening peso.

The Philippine Stock Exchange gained  53.36 points to end at 7,230.59. In the broader market, there were 101 decliners, 85 gainers and 45 shares unchanged.

Volume reached 667.52 million shares worth P5.05 billion from Wednesday's 1.05 billion shares valued at P4.94 billion. Foreigners were net sellers, with P3.08 billion sold while P2.56 billion were bought.

Most active shares were led by PLDT, down 4.76 percent to P1300; Jollibee, down 2.7 percent to P259 and Ayala Corp., up 1.06 percent to P950. DMS