Peso stages strong rally after rate hike

September 28, 2018

The Philippine peso staged a strong rally on Friday, a day after the central bank raised policy rates by 50 basis points, as it closed at P54.02 against the US dollar, 21 centavos higher from the previous day's finish.

The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) foreign exchange portal saw volume at $699.7 million from Thursday's $727.37 million.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index declined 43.77 points to 7,276.82. In the broader market, there were 99 decliners, 85 gainers and 50 shares unchanged.

Volume reached 1.02 billion shares worth P6 billion from Thursday's 667.5 million worth P5.047 billion.

Most traded shares were led by SM Investment Corp., up 0.56 percent to P904; SM Prime, down 2.95 percent to P36.15; Ayala Land, down 3.03 percent to P40.05 and BDO, up 3.54 percent to P119.80. DMS