Manila: The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended lower on the week’s first trading day on Monday, but the peso managed to keep its footing against the US dollar. The main equities index shed 0.85 percent to 6,057.43 points, and All Shares by 0.41 percent to 3,670.57 points.
According to Philippines News Agency, most of the sectoral gauges also closed in negative territory, namely Financials, 2.43 percent; Holding Firms, 1.20 percent; Property, 1.19 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.29 percent. On the other hand, Services rose by 0.99 percent and Industrial by 0.32 percent.
Volume reached 3.48 billion shares, amounting to PHP6.2 billion. Decliners led advancers at 117 to 84 while 53 shares were unchanged. In a report, Philstocks Financial Inc. traced the main index’s decline to ‘weakness of the Philippine peso against the USD dollar.’ ‘The lack of a local positive catalyst also caused investors to exit the market,’ it said.
The local currency ended the day at 57.18 to a greenback from its 57.1 finish last Friday. It started the day at 57.2, weaker than its 57.05 start in the previous session. It traded between 57.38 and 57.16, resulting in an average of 57.27. Volume rose to USD1.52 billion from USD1.48 billion at the end of last week.