By Joann Villanueva – PNA
MANILA — The easing of trade tensions between the US and China boosted both the Philippine peso and the main stocks gauge Thursday.
The local currency ended the day’s trade at 52.62 to a US dollar, better that its 52.715 close in the previous session.
Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI), in its market report, said the local unit’s strengthening is in line with the performance of its counterparts in the region during the day.
It said “appetite for riskier currencies improved amidst easing US-China trade tension.”
The peso opened the day at 52.60 from 52.69 a day ago.
It traded between 52.65 and 52.575, resulting to an average of 52.61.
Volume of trade reached PHP697.65 million, lower than the USD765.15 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.50 and 52.70 Friday.
Also, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.46 percent, up by 34.68 points, to 7,522.92 points.
Most of the other counters tracked the main gauge, with the broader All Shares up by 0.28 percent, or 12.78 points, to 4,507.33 points.
Financials registered the highest increase among the sectors with a rise of 1.27 percent and was followed by the Services, 1.06 percent; Holding Firms, 0.54 percent; and Industrial, 0.34 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil fell 0.87 percent and Property, 0.38 percent.
Volume reached 2.7 billion shares amounting to a little over PHP6 billion.
Gainers led losers at 109 to 80 while 46 shares were unchanged.
