The peso is falling; PSE briefly enters 6300 territory

The peso returned to P55:1 territory while the stock market fell to the 6400 level as the US banking crisis spooked investors.

The currency weakened 15 centavos to close at 55.08 pesos against the dollar, while the Philippine Stock Exchange’s benchmark index (PSEi) lost 151.12 points, or 2.31 percent, to 6393.33 points at the end of the day.

The broader All Shares also lost 64.35 points, or 1.83 percent, to 3454.48.

PSEi fell to 6,393.33, leaving Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael Ricafort said this affected the peso against the dollar.

“Philippine stocks fell well below the 6500 level as investors bet that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) could be the beginning of new headwinds in US banking,” Regina Capital Development Corp. This was stated by managing director Louis Limlingan.

Filstox Finance Inc. researcher Claire Alviar said that “not only at home, almost all markets were in the red as investors assessed the impact of the SVB on the banking sector.”

“At present, investor sentiment has been negative given the situation, especially ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision,” she added.

Alviar noted that market participation was fairly strong at 6.32 billion pesos on Tuesday, above the monthly average of 5.68 billion pesos.

“From a chart standpoint, if the market fails to return above the 6400 level, we may see it trade at the 6000-6150 support level,” she said.

The peso opened at 55.05 pesos: $1 and fluctuated between 54.88 and 55.14 pesos. Volume reached $1.127 trillion, up from $1.074 trillion in the previous session.

On the stock market, all sectoral indices closed in the red, with holdings losing the most by 2.51%.

Just over 968 million shares were sold, worth about 6.77 billion pesos.

There were more declines than risers, from 143 to 49, while 47 securities remained unchanged.