By Joann Villanueva/PNA
MANILA — The peso depreciated anew, even touching the 53-level in mid-trade, while the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) barely managed to stay afloat Tuesday amid a host of volatilities.
The main stocks index ended the day sideways, at 8,008.67 points, up by 1.21 points or 0.02 percent.
Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) Global Markets Research said global growth concerns continue to worry investors after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed its growth projections from 3.7 percent for 2019-2020 to 3.5 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
The reduction in the growth forecast was made as the lender sees higher risks.
Despite the news on IMF’s global growth forecast reduction until next year, most of the indices ended the day up, with the broader All Shares finishing the trade 0.23 percent, or 10.97 points, higher to 4,809.97 points.
Most of the sectoral indices also ended the trade with gains, led by Services with a 1.22 percent jump. It was trailed by Financials, 0.54 percent; Industrial, 0.28 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.22 percent.
At the other end are Property and Holding Firms, which fell 1.17 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively.
Volume totaled 1.8 billion stocks amounting to PHP6.5 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 115 to 104 while 34 shares were unchanged.
On the other hand, the local currency ended the day at 52.93 from 52.8 in the previous session. This close is in line with the sentiment in the region during the day, the BPI market report said.
For the day, the peso opened weaker at 52.77 from 52.6 start in the previous day. Its opening level is the unit’s strongest during the day after it fell to 53.04 mid-trade. This brought the day‘s average to 52.887.
Volume rose further to USD1.23 billion from USD1.006 billion Monday. The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.80 and 53.10 on Wednesday.
