Philippine stocks ended the week in the red, declining by more than 1 percent Friday on continued profit-taking.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at 6,154.99, down 86.98 points, or 1.39 percent, while the wider all-shares index ended at 3,663.64, lower by 23.41 points or 0.63 percent.
“Philippine investors took profits ahead of the long weekend, assessing the latest CPI [consumer price index] report and global developments,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.
Analysts said, however, the upcoming policy meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) next week could boost market sentiments in the next trading days.
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said it expects the BSP to cut its policy rate by 25 basis points Thursday, bringing the policy rate to 5.5 percent.
“The central bank might use the slower-than-expected growth last quarter as the primary justification for the cut, along with a stable inflation environment that allows the central bank to focus more on boosting the economy,” BPI said.
The bank said the recent appreciation of the peso against the dollar could also provide the BSP with more room to consider a rate cut.
“The currency has strengthened in recent trading sessions following the US government’s decision to postpone its tariffs against Canada and Mexico. While a rate cut could exert pressure on the Peso, improving market sentiment may mitigate this,” BPI said.
The mining and oil index sector was the lone index gainer, rising 0.26 percent. Services declined the most, shedding 1.96 percent followed by holding firms which went down by 1.45 percent.
Value turnover reached P5.71 billion, with 75 gainers versus 115 decliners and 50 unchanged names.
Manila Water Co. Inc. jumped 6.2 percent to P30.85, while BDO Unibank Inc. declined 3.72 percent to P138.70.