Share prices managed to eke out gains for the fourth straight session, although market sentiment was weighed down by a higher-than-expected inflation in August and a spike in international oil prices.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index finished at 6,241.69, up by 16.69 points or 0.27 percent, while the broader All Shares index rose to 3,368.25, up by 8.11 points or 0.24 percent.

Total value turnover remained thin at P3.84 billion, while market breadth was negative, 95 to 91, with 40 issues unchanged.

Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said shares still managed modest gains, despite rising oil prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary supply cuts.

In Asia, most markets fell as a jump in oil prices to 10-month highs rekindled worries of another US Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

The share selling came after US traders returned from a long weekend to spark a selloff after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would extend crude output cuts to the end of the year.

The news, which surprised some owing to the length of time, sent both main oil contracts to levels not seen since November, with Brent above $90 a barrel for the first time this year.

The price spike hit hopes the Fed's monetary tightening drive was over following a string of data indicating more than a year of rate hikes had managed to bring inflation down from four-decade highs and softened the labor market.

Observers said higher energy costs would complicate the central bank's work as they accounted for a large part of the surge in prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

'Rising oil prices are officially the new inflation stoker,' said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. 'Everyone notices that this rally feels different, suggesting that 'Oil', the Great Inflationary Dragon, is not yet slain.'

And Tim Waterer at KCM Trade warned that the gains have come even with a strong greenback, making dollar-crude more expensive for clients buying with other currencies.

He added that this means 'that should the greenback come off the boil at some point there is potentially more room to the upside for the oil market.'

 

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