BENGALURU: Philippine stocks rallied on Tuesday after the country’s quickening inflation signalled a sustained cycle of policy easing, while most emerging Asia currencies were muted ahead of the US presidential election.
Shares in Manila gained up to 1.2%, set for their strongest session since mid-October while stocks in Thailand climbed 0.9%, led by gains in power supplies manufacturer Delta Electronics.
Data on Tuesday showed, Philippine’s consumer price index rose 2.3% in October from 1.9% reported the previous month and was below the 2.4% forecast in a Reuters poll.
This gives the central bank more room to maintain its policy easing cycle after it cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points last month, for the second time this year. The peso was trading flat against the greenback.
“Inflation is expected to remain below 3.0% for the rest of the year, and much of the first half of 2025, paving the way for another 25 bps rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” said analysts at Citi.
Bangkok stocks hit their highest since late October, led by Delta Electronics, which jumped 7.5% to a record high.
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