By Joann Villanueva (PNA)
MANILA — The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Wednesday ended its three-day slide, lifted by encouraging earnings in the local bourse, while the peso was almost unchanged against the greenback.
PSEi gained 1.16 percent, or 79.25 points, to 6,923.08 points, which Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI), in its market report, traced to higher-than-expected corporate earnings for the third quarter of the year.
The continued decline in global oil prices also boosted investors’ risk-on sentiment in the local stock market, it said.
The recovery of the main gauge was mirrored by most counters such as the broader All Shares, which jumped by 0.74 percent, or 31.11 points, to 4,242.24 points.
Most of the sectors also finished the day’s trade with gains, led by Financials at 1.60 percent.
It was followed by Holding Firms, 1.46 percent; Industrial, 1.02 percent; Services, 0.37 percent; and Property, 0.34 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil index ended on the red after it declined by 0.65 percent.
Volume reached 1.03 billion stocks amounting to PHP7.05 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 105 to 75 while 56 shares were unchanged.
Relatively, the peso was little changed against the greenback after finishing the day at 53.09 from 53.1 Tuesday.
BPI traced this improvement to a sustained drop in global oil prices, with crude prices now at USD55.69 per barrel, down 7 percent, the highest one-day decline in three years.
“Oil prices collapsed further into bear territory after OPEC reduced its 2019 forecast for global oil demand amidst signs of slowing global economy,” it said.
The local unit opened the day’s trade at 53.05, a big jump from the 53.28 in the previous session.
It strengthened to as much as 52.97 but moved to 53.13, resulting in an average of 53.047.
Volume reached USD731.5 million, lower than the USD738.7 million registered in yesterday’s session.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.00 and 53.20 Thursday.
