The local stock barometer ended the week lower on inflation concerns and central banks’ rate hiking path, a trend that also affected the Philippine peso.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.54 percent, or 36.89 points, to 6,779.02 points.

All Shares followed with a decline of 0.48 percent, or 17.39 points, to 3,621.69 points.

Most of the sectoral gauges also finished the day down, led by Property after it fell by 1.75 percent.

Industrial trailed after slipping by 0.87 percent, along with Holding Firms, 0.83 percent, and Financials, 0.02 percent.

On the other hand, Services rose by 0.79 percent and Mining and Oil by 0.04 percent.

Volume reached 851.14 million shares amounting to PHP5.68 billion.

Decliners led advancers at 123 to 56, while 39 shares were unchanged.

“Local equities closed in the red amid concerns of stubbornly high inflation metrics and Fed (Federal Reserve) commentaries on the pacing of potential rate hikes,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales.

Citing reports, Limlingan said St. Louis Fed President James Bullard favored a 50 basis points increase in the Federal Reserve funds rate during the Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, 2023 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and is open to a hike of the same rate for the March 2023 meeting.

The FOMC hiked the Fed’s key rates by 25 basis points.

US’ consumer price index (CPI) further slowed to 6.4 percent last January from the previous month’s 6.5 percent.

On the local front, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy-making Monetary Board (MB) hiked by 50 basis points the central bank’s key rates on Thursday.

This, after citing the higher-than-expected domestic inflation last January, which posted a new 14-year high of 8.7 percent, and expectations of sustained elevated rate of price increases given the jumps in prices of food, among others, in the domestic and international market.

Limlingan said the PSEi slipped partly after investors cashed in on their portfolio following the widely-expected BSP rate hike.

Meanwhile, oil prices in the international market went down a bit “as the greenback strengthened on worries that rising interest rates would slow the economy and cut fuel demand.”

Limlingan said the price of Brent crude went down by 0.2 percent to $85.38 per barrel and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by 0.6 percent to $78.59 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the local currency weakened against the US dollar and closed the day at P55.24 from its P55.12 close on Thursday.

It opened the day at P55.25 and traded between P55.335 and P55.15. The average level for the day stood at P55.252.

Volume went down to $878.3 million from the previous day’s $1.14 billion.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said the negative close of the PSEi, concerns on the path of inflation and central banks key rates and geopolitical issues between the US and China contributed to the peso’s weakness.

He forecasts the peso to trade between P55.00 to P55.50 against the US dollar next week, with the range for Monday projected to between P55.10 to P55.30.

CURRENTPH NEWS SERVICE