By Joann Villanueva/PNA
MANILA — Risk-on sentiments remained in the Philippines’ equity market Thursday but the peso weakened to its two-week low in line with its counterparts in the region.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose to 7,680.60 points, up 2.56 percent or 191.40 points.
Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan traced the “furious rally” of the local equities market to gains of US stocks overnight amid the volatile environment.
“After a tumultuous 2018, wherein the country was perceived as a more risky asset, sentiment has changed as most of Asia has witnessed steep declines,” he said.
“The Philippines, however, seems to have been given an overweight rating relative to other economies,” he said.
With positive sentiments up, all the other counters also finished the day with improvements.
The broader All Shares inched up by 1.98 percent, or 89.61 points, to 4,610.28 points.
Mining and Oil surged by 3.96 percent and was followed by the Holding Firms, 3.44 percent; Property, 2.47 percent; Financials, 1.93 percent; Services, 1.85 percent; and Industrial, 0.66 percent.
Volume reached 985.2 million shares amounting to PHP7.2 billion.
Gainers led losers at 135 to 61, while 44 shares were unchanged.
On the other hand, the peso finished the day at 52.65 from 52.515 a day ago.
In its market report, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said the local currency depreciated against the greenback for the first time in two weeks, as investors remain cautious on the path of global growth.
It noted that concerns on global growth and future corporate earnings are further dampened by reports that Apple Inc. has decided to cut its first-quarter revenue forecast for this year due to unexpected slowdown of demand from China.
For the day, the peso opened at 52.55, sideways from its 52.5 start in the previous day.
It traded between 52.53 and 52.72, bringing the day’s average to 52.625.
Volume reached USD797.5 million, up from Wednesday’s USD580.05 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.55 and 52.75 Friday.
