The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 10.78 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 6,406.38, while the wider all-shares index gained 4.08 points, or 0.11 percent, to finish at 3,675.83.The peso also rebounded to 58.81 against the US dollar Friday from a record low of 59 Thursday.
Mining and oil led all sectors, rising by 1.56 percent, followed by services which went up 1.04 percent. Financial and property sectors were still in the red, declining by 1 percent and 0.40 percent, respectively.International Container Terminal Services Inc. advanced 1.3 percent to P390 after the company reported it secured 25-year extension to operate Mindanao Container Terminal. BDO Unibank Inc. dropped 2.3 percent to P144.60.
Traders are now awaiting the release later in the day of data on US personal consumption expenditure — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation and the last major piece of data for the year. Economists at Bank of America Global Research said in a commentary: “We stick with our forecast for two more rate cuts next year, but the risks have clearly shifted in the direction of fewer cuts. The onus is now on the data to justify additional cuts.They added that if the jobs market ran into severe trouble in the next few months “the Fed would turn more dovish, and meeting will feel like a bump in the road, rather than a paradigm shift, a few months down the line”.