By Ed Paolo Salting and Niña Myka Pauline Arceo
The currency gained 63 centavos to close at P53.845 vs the dollar, its best finish in nearly eight months or since June 17, 2022's P53.75:$1.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange (PSEi), however, lost 49.57 points, or 0.70 percent, to end the day at 6,986.19. The broader All Shares shed 3.39 points, or 0.09 percent, to hit 3,683.78.
"Investors booked gains from the market's steep rally yesterday (Wednesday) as trading remained strong with net value turnover posting P8.23 billion, higher than the year-to-date average of P6.50 billion," said Japhet Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc.
Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan, meanwhile, said "Philippine shares reverted to selling on news after the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate hike adjustment."
"Without deviating from the script, the central bank bumped the interest rate by 25 basis points, bolstering investor optimism that inflation is cooling enough. However, the Fed gave no indication of an upcoming pause in rate hikes," he added.
Meanwhile, Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said news that the country's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio had improved at the end of last year could have contributed to the peso's rise.
The Treasury bureau on Thursday reported that the national government's outstanding debt had hit P13.42 trillion as of end-December, 14.4 percent up from the previous year.
The amount, however, was lower than the P13.64 billion at the end of November due to the strengthening of the peso and as the government paid off some of its debt.
Stronger-than-expected economic growth, meanwhile, limited the full-year debt-to-GDP ratio to 60.9 percent, below the medium-term cap of 61.8 percent and improving from 63.7 percent at the end of the third quarter.
The peso opened trading at the day's high of P54.2 and traded as low as P53.835. Volume reached $1.62 trillion, higher than the $958.9 million in the previous session.
At the stock market, sectoral results ended mostly in the green with the exception of holding firms and property, which respectively fell by 1.59 percent and 1.65 percent. Mining and oil led gainers with a 3.04-percent rise.
Just under 1.29 billion shares worth P8.93 billion changed hands.
Advancers again outperformed decliners, 114 to 67, while 56 remained unchanged.
