By Joann Villanueva (PNA)
MANILA — The Philippine peso improved against the US dollar Tuesday while the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped further due to negative news overseas.
The local currency ended the day at 53.10 from 53.295 a day ago, which a trader said is in line with its counterparts in the region.
Anticipation of another increase in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) key policy rates on Thursday also lifted the local unit, the trader said.
BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) will have its seventh-rate setting meet on November 15 and some analysts forecast another rate increase as inflation remains elevated albeit steady at 6.7 percent last October.
For the day, the local unit opened at 53.28, a big drop from the 53.09 in the previous session.
It traded between 53.3 and 53.08, bringing the day’s average to 53.194.
Volume reached USD738.7 million, higher than the USD666.1 million Monday.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.10 and 53.30 Wednesday.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 1.19 percent, or 82.37 points, to 6,843.83 points.
BPI, in its market report, attributed the main index’ decline to global trade sentiments such as the trade issues of US with the European Union and China.
A wait-and-see stance ahead of the BSP’s rate setting meet on Thursday added to the PSEi’s slide, it added.
PSEi’s drop was mirrored by all the other indices with the All Shares down by 0.98 percent, or 41.84 percent, to 4,211.13 points.
The sectors were led by the Holding Firms, which fell by 1.63 percent. It was followed by the Property, 1.23 percent; Financials, 1.19 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.98 percent; Industrial, 0.63 percent; and Services, 0.39 percent.
Volume reached 2.95 billion shares amounting to PHP8.17 billion.
Losers led gainers at 155 to 55 while 36 stocks were unchanged.
