The Philippine stock market closed stronger on Thursday amid expectations that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will maintain its policy rates. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) increased by 20.35 points, closing at 6,191.48, while the All-Shares index also rose by 6.77 points to 3,314.49.
According to Philippines News Agency, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort described the PSEi's gain as a response to the anticipated pause in local policy rates. Most sectoral indices closed positively, except for Mining and Oil, which saw a decline. Market activity showed more advancers than decliners, with 88 stocks advancing against 81 declining, while 48 shares remained unchanged.
The peso also strengthened, closing at PHP55.79 to a dollar, a slight improvement from Wednesday's closing of PHP55.825. During the day, the local currency traded between PHP55.75 and PHP55.935 against the dollar. The trading volume decreased slightly to USD1.2 billion from USD1.4 billion on Wednesday.