By Joann Villanueva/PNA
MANILA — Fresh news about the Philippines posting a balance of payments (BOP) surplus for the third straight month boosted both the peso and the main equities gauge Wednesday.
The local currency ended the day at 52.06 from 52.21 a day ago, which a trader said came at the heels of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) report on the USD 2.7 billion BOP surplus last January.
It opened the day at 52.14 from 52.34 Tuesday.
It traded between 52.15 and 52.03, resulting to an average of 52.109.
Volume reached USD873.34 million from USD885.6 million in the previous session.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.10 and 52.30 Thursday.
Also, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 1.35 percent, or 105.49 points, to 7,939.24 points.
Most of the counters trailed, with the broader All Shares ending the day at 4,856.94 points, up 1.13 percent or 54.05 points.
Industrial led the sectors with a 2.01 percent jump and was followed by the Mining and Oil, 1.76 percent; Property, 1.75 percent; Holding Firms, 1.46 percent; and Financials, 0.25 percent.
The Services was almost unchanged after a drop of 0.02 percent.
Volume reached 1.5 billion shares amounting to PHP7.8 billion.
Gainers led losers at 122 to 88 while 42 shares were unchanged.
