Stocks rose for a third day, sending the benchmark index above the 8,100-point mark before closing lower at the end of the trading day, as most Asian markets advanced.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, hit an intra-day high of 8,106.74 before settling at 8,045.78 Thursday, up 8 points, or 0.1 percent, from the previous day. The bellwether was also up 17.6 percent since the start of the year.
The heavier index, representing all shares, picked up 1 point to settle at 4,781.58, on a value turnover of P7.1 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 115 to 94, while 53 issues were unchanged.
Ten of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc. which climbed 2.2 percent to P1,257 and Security Bank Corp. which rose 1.8 percent to P232. SM Investments Corp. went up 1.5 percent to P800.
Meanwhile, Asian shares rose the highest level since December 2007 after strong earnings from some of the region’s key companies and the Federal Reserve’s signal that inflation remains persistently below its target.
Major Asian markets gained but the dollar struggled after the previous day’s losses when the Federal Reserve’s tepid inflation outlook fueled speculation it will hold off further US rate hikes this year.
Regional traders tracked fresh Wall Street records on optimism about corporate earnings as a host of big names disclosed results.
Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney all rose while Seoul was boosted by Samsung Electronics forecast-beating, record-breaking profits that were fueled by sales of its new Galaxy S8 smartphone and memory chips.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates Wednesday and confirmed plans to begin winding in its massive bond holdings “relatively soon”, as expected.
But the central bank statement also noted that inflation continues to run below its two percent target, which traders took as a negative for the dollar and raised questions about any possible further rate hikes this year.
“Any chance of a September rate hike seems to have disappeared while the Fed’s statement balance sheet reduction will begin ‘relatively soon’ could mean that too has been pushed out,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at CFD and FX provider AxiTrader.
“The US dollar has come under intense pressure once again, rates eased a little, and stocks can focus on the continued earnings surprises.”
McKenna added there was little chance of a US dollar recovery in the near term.
The greenback fell sharply against its major peers following the Fed statement, with the euro climbing to its highest level in more than two years, although the US unit staged a modest recovery in late Asian trade.
It remained well off against higher-yielding currencies, with the Australian dollar spiking 1.4 percent and breaking 80 US cents for the first time since mid-2015.
The greenback fell more than one percent against the New Zealand dollar and the South African rand.
On equity markets Tokyo closed 0.2 percent higher, Hong Kong was up 0.7 percent, its 13th rise in 14 trading days.
Seoul ended the day 0.4 percent up, Shanghai added 0.1 percent and Sydney rose 0.2 percent. With AFP, Bloomberg