By Joann Santiago
MANILA, Sept. 22 (PNA) — Both the Philippine peso and the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) inched down Tuesday after some Federal Reserve officials indicated support for a hike in interest rate within the year.
The local currency shed Php 0.12 and finished the day at 46.59 from the previous trading’s 46.47.
A trader said reports quoting Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart as saying that he “will be ready for the first policy move” this year even if inflation remained below the Fed’s long-term target boosted risk sentiment.
“(This development made) people load up on the dollar,” the trader said.
Corporates’ month-end dollar demand also buoyed the US currency, the trader added.
The local unit opened the day flat at 46.53 and traded between a close range of 46.52 and 46.59.
This brought the day’s average to 46.55, sideways against the 46.51 a day ago.
Volume of trade reached USD 562.75 million, a little lower than the USD 574.2 million Monday.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 46.50 and 46.70 on Wednesday.
Relatively, the PSEi declined by 0.58 percent, or 41.18 points, to 7,051.23 points.
The broader all shares index and the rest of the indices also tracked the main index with the former down by 0.53 percent or 21.30 points to 4,033.56 points.
The property index led the pack with 1.15 percent, or 33.47 points, decline to 2,882.37 points.
Volume of trade reached 1.98 million amounting to Php 7.07 billion.
Losers led gainers at very close figure of 93 to 92 while 34 were unchanged. (PNA)