Manila: After experiencing declines in recent days, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) showed signs of recovery, stabilizing on Wednesday. However, the peso continued its downward trend against the US dollar.

According to Philippines News Agency, the main equities index increased by 2.08 percent, reaching 6,273.34 points, while the broader All Shares index rose by 1.26 percent to 3,731.07 points. In terms of sectoral performance, Services recorded the largest growth at 3.97 percent, followed by Financials at 3.53 percent, Property at 2.71 percent, Mining and Oil at 2.41 percent, and Industrial at 0.33 percent. Conversely, the Holding Firms sector was the only one to end in negative territory, declining by 0.52 percent.

Trading volume was substantial, with 890.27 million shares exchanged, amounting to PHP8.65 billion. The market saw more advancers than decliners, with 117 stocks rising and 100 falling, while 39 remained unchanged. Investors appeared to view the recent price declines as a buying opportunity, which, alongside positioning for the upcoming Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) meeting, helped to boost the market. Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corporation, commented on this investor behavior.

The BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board is set to hold its fourth rate-setting meeting on Thursday. It is anticipated that the Board will cut key rates for the third time this year, responding to an inflation rate that averaged 1.7 percent in July, which falls below the target range of 2 to 3 percent set by economic managers.

Despite these positive developments in the equities market, the peso experienced further depreciation against the US dollar, closing at 57.16 compared to the previous day’s 57.07. The peso opened at a stronger 56.93 but weakened to 57.23 mid-trade, with an average rate of 57.10 for the day. The volume of currency trading also increased, with transactions totaling USD1.9 billion, up from USD1.44 billion the previous day.