By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Foreign buying in the local bourse allowed the Philippine peso to remain firm against the US dollar but the main equities index sunk as the week’s trading came to a close.
The local currency ended the day at 51.13 from 51.19 Wednesday, which, BPI Research attributed to foreign buying in the local equities market as global growth concerns remain.
It opened the day at 51.25, a tad better than its 51.30 start in the previous session.
It traded between 51.28 and 51.08, resulting in an average of 51.164.
Volume reached USD910.96 million, higher than the USD883.31 million a day ago.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 0.16 percent, or 12.67 points, to 8,141.82 points.
Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan said this is due to the faster inflation rate in the US last June, which was at 0.3 percent from 0.1 percent in the previous month.
This development resulted in the rise of US Treasuries, which in turn, hurt local equities, he said.
He also cited Federal Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony before the US Congress, wherein he hinted of a possible cut in the Fed rates in the near term since the connection between the inflation and jobs has “become weaker and weaker.”
These developments continue to make investors jittery thus, All Shares tracked the PSEi after it fell 0.27 percent, or 13.27 points, to 4,944.70 points.
Half of the sectoral gauges also ended on the red and these include Holding Firms, 0.70 percent; Industrial, 0.53 percent; and Property, 0.33 percent.
On the other hand, Financials inched up by 1.28 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.53 percent; and Services, 0.34 percent.
Volume reached 3.39 billion shares amounting to PHP6.86 billion.
Gainers led losers at 108 to 82 while 52 shares were unchanged.
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