Bargain hunting buoys PSEi ahead of Fed meeting

Philippine share prices rallied on Monday, as investors went on bargain hunting in select stocks ahead of policy-setting meetings by two major central banks this week.

But the broder market was basically down.

The bellwether PSEi gained 22.08 points or 0.29 percent to close at 7,575.84. The broader All Shares fell 16.20 points or 0.36 percent to 4,541.97.

"After Friday's selloff, there was bargain, but volumes have been rather thin," Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a phone interview.

"There are upcoming BOJ (Bank of Japan), Fed meetings. So, investors are anticipating what the decision will be. Will it be beneficial for the market?" he said.

Both the Bank of Japan and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are holding policy meetings on September 20 and 21, while the European Central Bank (ECB) has scheduled a non-monetary policy meeting on September 21 and 22.

"More than half of investors are so far discounting that the Fed will not hike interest rates," Limlingan noted.

US Futures traders are now only pricing a 12-percent chance of a rate increase this month versus 15 percent on Wednesday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, Reuters said in a report.

Aside from this, the market is also expected to be swayed by the release of overseas economic data this week – US housing and employment, China property prices, Japan export and import data, and European retail sales and unemployment data.

Locally, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will meet on Thursday, September 22, to review key policy settings.

More than 1.091 billion shares, valued at P7.214 billion, changed hands. Losers led winners, 101 to 90, and 47 issues were unchanged. — VDS, GMA News