Local markets shed on external worries

MANILA — Risk-off sentiments continue to dampen trading in the Philippines’ equities and foreign exchange markets Thursday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 1.20 percent or 86.50 points to 7,134.73 points.

Landbank market economist Guian Dumalagan said investors continue to see the Philippines “as a riskier asset class vs. the more developed US economy.”

Thus, he forecasts “no end in sight for the sell down” in the PSE.

“In fact, US stocks closed mostly higher Wednesday as investors took escalating trade tensions in stride to instead focus on improving economic fundamentals,” he said.

PSEi’s negative finish for the day was tracked by all the other counters, with the All Shares down by 0.96 percent or 42.75 points to 4,411.96 points.

Holding Firms declined by 1.72 percent and was followed by Mining and Oil, 1.42 percent; Property, 1.36 percent; Services, 1.25 percent; Industrial, 0.27 percent; and Financials, 0.15 percent.

Volume reached 792.15 million shares amounting to PHP4.6 billion.

Losers continue to surpass gainers at 113 to 82 while 33 shares were unchanged.

Relatively, the peso ended the day at 54.075 from 53.99 the day before.

A trader pointed this partly to investors’ decision to bank on safe haven assets like the US dollar given the trade concerns overseas.

The peso opened the day better at 53.91 from 54.05-start in the previous day.

It traded between its opening level and 54.1, resulting to an average of 54.016.

Volume reached USD606.1 million, lower than the USD657.7 million. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)

Popular

Heroes’ pseudonyms differ from OVP fund aliases —Palace

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos | Philippine News Agency Malacañang on Thursday drew a distinction between the pseudonyms used by Filipino heroes during the revolutionary period...

Inter-agency coordination vital in boosting agri production —PBBM

By Brian Campued President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday underscored the importance of inter-agency coordination in boosting local agricultural production and increasing farmers’ income...

National gov’t to continue monitoring LGSF use

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos | Philippine News Agency Malacañang on Wednesday said the national government will continue monitoring the utilization of the Local Government Support...

Palace defends flood response, seeks review of Duterte-era projects

By Darryl John Esguerra | Philippine News Agency Malacañang on Wednesday defended the administration’s response to flooding, citing President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to...