THE peso edged back from a record low on Wednesday while the stock market closed basically flat amid continued investor wariness.
The currency strengthened by a centavo to P61.74 against the dollar and the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell by 0.06 percent, or 3.4 points, to 5,893.40.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said possible market intervention and lower crude oil prices had buoyed the peso.
Stock market traders, meanwhile, tagged the peso’s continued weakness, still-elevated oil prices and stagflation risks as having dampened sentiment.
The PSEi also tracked Wall Street’s overnight decline following a rise in US long-term Treasury yields, it added.
Trading remained subdued, with net value turnover reaching P5.65 billion. Foreign investors were net sellers with outflows amounting to P115.32 million.
Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said investors stayed cautious after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday expressed concern about possible stagflation, which is characterized by slow economic growth, high unemployment and rising inflation.
Sectoral performance was mixed, with services gaining the most at 0.33 percent while industrials posted the biggest decline of 0.80 percent.
Decliners continued to outnumber gainers on a company basis, 111 to 74, while 59 were unchanged.
Earlier in the day, Reyes Tacandong & Co. senior adviser Jonathan Ravelas said the PSEi was likely to stay under pressure as high interest rates and the weak peso were continuing to weigh on corporate earnings and investor sentiment.
He said the absence of strong market conviction was keeping the benchmark index within the 5,800 to 6,000 range, and that corporate earnings were being constrained by borrowing costs and the peso’s decline.
“[I]f your income goes down, moving forward, your stock index will go down. That’s why the chances of it going down are higher than going up, based on the current situation today,” Ravelas said.
He noted that the peso had weakened from around $54:$1 in 2021 to $61 while the PSEi was now at around 5,800 from 6,500 two months ago.
