Philippines: Market upbeat on US rate hike

• Dec 15, 2016

Share prices climbed anew yesterday as investors await the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 47.43 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 6,928.34, while the broader All Shares index edged up 28.72 points or 0.69 percent to end at 4,201.37.

All sectoral indices were up led by the mining and oil and the holding firms counters.

Market breadth was positive as advancing stocks outnumbered decliners, 97 to 73 while 44 stocks were left unchanged but total value turnover remained thin at P5.85 billion.

Elsewhere in the region, stocks were mostly up ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting. The Fed is widely expected to increase rates, its first since December 2015 as the Fed has kept interest rates relatively low amid a slow US economy.

Equally important, investors will listen for clues from Fed chair Janet Yellen about future monetary policy and the economic outlook under US president-elect Donald Trump.

But Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital said guidance from the meeting, the Summary of Economic Projections, and Yellen’s testimony are likely to repeat the committee’s existing view that the pace of rate hikes will be gradual.

He said investors would be keeping a close watch on modest upward revisions to GDP growth and lower unemployment rate projections for 2016 and 2017, among other economic indicators.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2016/12/15/1653427/market-upbeat-us-rate-hike