Stock pare gains, peso ends lower as central bank holds rates
Stocks soared for most of Thursday’s trading after the US presidential election won by Donald Trump but pared its gains towards the close of transactions.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed to as high as 1.36 percent or 96.89 points. The index ended 62.83 points higher at 7,181.87, still close to six-month lows.
The peso closed lower at P48.66 against the US dollar, a seven-year low, as the central bank maintained a key lending rate for the sixth month on Thursday. The central bank, in a statement, said the overnight reverse repurchase facility remained at three percent.
San Miguel Corp. said net income from January to September rose 125 percent on strong performance across its businesses.
Net income rose to P43 billion from P19 billion over the same period in 2015, San Miguel Corp. said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
Philippine Seven Corp., which runs the local 7-11 stores, reported a 24.8 percent increase in its net income of P643.40 million from January to September.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. posted a 12.8 percent increase in its net income for the first nine months of 2016 to P507.93 million from 2015’s P450.20 million on account of lower expenses and higher income from other sources.
Operating revenues for January to September declined by 7.5 percent, with listing related income decreasing by 10.6 percent. .
Trading-related income experienced a slight decline of 4.4 percent while services fees went down by 12.0 percent. The average daily value turnover for the nine-month period reached P8.06 billion, 14.8 percent lower than the Php9.46 billion average during the same period in 2015.
“Global developments dictated the market’s movement in the third quarter. We saw foreign investors liquidate their positions and take a risk-off approach ahead of the September US Federal Reserve meeting and the volatilities in the commodities market,” PSE President and CEO Hans Sicat said in a statement. DMS
