FOREIGN exchange trading was suspended on Wednesday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as Tropical Storm Trami, locally known as Kristine, approached the country.

The stock market, however, stayed open and fell below 7,400, with investors said to be waiting for fresh catalysts.

The government late on Tuesday already canceled classes and work at government offices after the storm, yet to make landfall as of late afternoon Wednesday, caused massive floods in the Bicol region.

In a Facebook post, the BSP told all banks that trading and other monetary operations would be canceled for the day and assured that "maturities will be settled."

The peso closed at P57.88 on Tuesday, down by 29 centavos. Its continued weakness after hitting highs in P55:$1 territory last month has been cited as weighing on the equities market.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed Wednesday at 7,367.66, down by 45.50 points or 0.61 percent, while the broader All Shares lost 34.74 points — 0.85 percent — to 4,050.76.

Philstocks Financial Inc. research manager Japhet Tantiangco said the pullback happened as "investors took a cautious stance as the local market remains without a fresh positive catalyst."

"Net foreign selling, attributed to the peso's weakened state and the rise in the US' long-term Treasury yields, also contributed to the decline," he added.

Tantiangco said that Wednesday's trading was "tepid," with the net value turnover of P4.08 billion below the year-to-date average of P5.19 billion.

"Net foreign outflows for the day amounted to P159.24 million," he added.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan, meanwhile, said "investors grappled with ongoing concerns about rising interest rates and processed the latest earnings reports released this week," causing the PSEi to slip along with Wall Street.

"Back home, value turnover remained weak as a certain number of institutions were closed over the typhoons, while others awaited more 3Q24 (third quarter 2024) financial results and expectations of policy easing by the central bank," he added.

All but two sector indices closed in the red, with services down the most by 1.92 percent. Mining and oil and holding firms were the only gainers, up by 0.43 percent and 0.08 percent, respectively.

Decliners outnumbered gainers, 128 to 71, while 55 were unchanged.