Stocks, peso recover after Powell speech on inflation

EASING INFLATION Decelerating consumer price index CPI in the US which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cited in his speech on Tuesday Feb 8 2023 helped appease investors sentiment that resulted in the recovery of the local stock barometer on Wednesday This development also lifted the peso against the US dollar during the day PNA file photo MANILA – The local bourse main index recovered on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted the decelerating United States consumer price index CPI while the peso gained to a greenback The Philippine Stock Exchange index PSEi rose by 061 percent or 4182 points to 692308 points All Shares followed with a jump of 053 percent or 1926 points to 367501 points Most of the sectoral gauges also rose during the day led by Mining and Oil after it increased by 348 percent It was trailed by Financials 158 percent Property 134 percent Services 067 percent and Industrial 066 percent Only the Holding Firms index shed during the day as it slipped by 048 percent Volume reached 115 billion shares amounting to PHP628 billion Advancers led decliners at 115 to 66 while 53 shares were unchanged Philippine equities rose following Powell speech on easing inflation said Luis Limlingan Regina Capital Development Corporation RCDC head of sales referring to the Fed chief speech before the Economic Club of Washington on Tuesday He said investors are also awaiting what other Fed officials will say in their respective speeches during the week The discussions will be mainly about the central bank plan on monetary tightening to tamp down inflation he added Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort said report about the improvement of the country employment data also bolstered the PSEi during the day This after the Philippine Statistics Authority PSA reported during the day that underemployment rate in the country eased to 126 percent last December from month-ago 144 percent and year-ago 147 percent However unemployment rate rose slightly to 43 percent from 42 percent last November Ricafort said the latest unemployment rate remains among the lowest in 17 years Meanwhile oil prices rose in the world market by more than 3 percent after the central bank boosted market confidence over interest rate hikes while picking up demand in China Limlingan said Brent crude oil futures inched up by 383 percent to USD8369 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate WTI by 044 percent to USD7747 per barrel Meanwhile the local currency mirrored the gains in the stock market after it appreciated against the US dollar and ended the day trade at 548 from its 55085 close a day ago It opened the day at 5500 weaker than the previous session 5465 It traded between 5502 and 5479 resulting in an average of 5488 Volume reached USD 115 billion higher than the previous day USD 127 billion Ricafort expects the currency pair to trade between 5425 to 5450 on Thursday PNA }