By Joann Villanueva | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Profit-taking ahead of the holidays resulted in another decline in the Philippines’ main equities index on Wednesday (Dec. 22) and the peso followed after slipping to the 50-level against the US dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 0.67%, or 47.87 points, to 7,119.19 points.
All Shares followed but with a lower decline of 0.22%, or 8.45 points, to 3,797.22 points.
Most of the sectoral indices also finished the day on the red – Holding Firms, 1.81%; Property, 0.64%; Financials, 0.25%; and Services, 0.02%.
On the other hand, Industrial gained 1.44% and Mining and Oil, 0.49%.
Volume totaled 1.61 billion shares amounting to P6.03 billion.
Gainers surpassed losers at 86 to 83 while 69 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares ended lower as investors started to take profit ahead of the holidays while others continued to assess the damage brought about by Typhoon Odette,” Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. (RCDC) head of sales, said.
“Odette,” the strongest typhoon to hit the country so far this year, ravaged parts of the Visayas and Mindanao a few days ago. It is seen to hit the domestic economy’s recovery, with damage to the agricultural sector estimated at P3 billion.
Relatively, the peso weakened against the US dollar after finishing the day at 50.19 from its 49.95 close a day ago.
It opened the session at 49.93 and traded between 50.19 and 49.9, averaging at 50.038.
Volume totaled US$1.06 billion, up from the previous day’s US$916 million. (PNA) – bny
