THE peso fell back to the P56:$1 level while the stock market rose a bit on Monday as investors digested news of an oil output cut and awaited today’s release of May inflation data.

The currency weakened by 35 centavos to close at P56.24 against the dollar, which Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said followed Saudi Arabia’s announcement of an output beginning July in a bid to boost global crude prices.

Higher US Treasury yields also put pressure on the peso, he added.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), meanwhile, added just 9.63 points, or 0.15 percent, to end the day at 6,521.64.

The broader All Shares fared a bit better, gaining 11.46 points, or 0.33 percent, to settle at P3,486.33.

“The index was slightly up but daily turnover fell as we saw generally cautious trading ahead of tomorrow’s (today’s) release of Philippine May inflation data,” China Bank Capital Corp. Managing Director Juan Paolo Colet said.

“Market sentiment was also

tempered by the jump in crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut production by one million barrels per day,” he added.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said investors were also considering the US Federal Reserve’s likely policy action next week.

Prospects of a rate hike pause remain uncertain after latest US jobs data indicated that the US central bank’s tightening efforts have so far failed to cool the economy.

Limlingan said that back home, investors were also looking forward to gross international reserves and trade data for May plus April unemployment and factory output reports due later this week.

Ricafort, meanwhile, said market sentiment was also boosted by a surge in Board of Investments project approvals and the start of the Philippines’ participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

The peso began trading at P56.01 to $1 and ranged from P56 to P56.245. Volume was $1.077 billion, up from $898 million last Friday/previous day.

At the stock market, most sectoral indices closed in the green with industrial up the most by 1.36 percent. Financials and services fell by 0.38 percent and 0.92 percent, respectively.

A total of 1.73 billion shares worth P3.38 billion were transacted.

Advancers led decliners, 114 to 64, while 37 remained unchanged.