By Janina C. Lim, Reporter
PHILIPPINE SHARES rose overall for the third straight day back above the 7,000 line on Friday, a day after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised policy rates further — though by a smaller magnitude — to temper inflation expectations.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 1.88% or 130.75 points to 7,083.34, while the broader all-shares index climbed 1.31% or 55.65 points to 4,310.52.
“Most of the momentum today has been due to the Monetary Board of the BSP deciding to tighten policy anew Thursday,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message on Friday.
The central bank increased policy rates by another 25 basis points — though smaller than the back-to-back 50 bps hike in August and September and matching May and June’s increase. Policy rates are now up by 175 bps since May to 4.25-5.25%.
And as the third-quarter earnings season draws to a close, investors will be looking to economic data to sustain momentum, Justino B. Calaycay, Jr., Philstocks Financial, Inc.’s senior research analyst, said in a note on Friday, adding the the year’s closing months are usually marked by rallies. Macroeconomic data scheduled to be reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority are November inflation as well as October factory output and employment data on Dec. 5, as well as October merchandise trade data on Dec. 11.
Most sectoral indices were up on Friday except for mining and oil which dropped 0.41% or 37.43 points to 8,948,12 after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced on Friday results of a review of the appeal by miners who were ordered sanctioned in February last year largely for operating in watersheds and for allegedly polluting nearby waters.
Financials surged 3.27% or 52.65 points to 1,661.84, property went up 1.79% or 60.49 points to 3,426.47, holding firms increased 1.53% or 104.69 points to 6,914.29, industrial edged up 0.98% or 103.13 points to 10,672.85 while services rose 0.61% or 8.30 points to 1381.18.
Advancers trumped decliners at 115 to 65 while 47 shares were unchanged.
Foreigners continued to dump shares with net selling of P148.538 million, nearly seven times Thursday’s P21.499 million.
About 699. 675 million shares worth P9.913 billion were traded on Friday, compared to Thursday’s 779.116 million worth P6.51 billion.

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