/PNA
MANILA — The Philippine peso gained against the greenback Wednesday but the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended in the red due to profit-taking.
The peso finished the day at 52.235 from 52.41 last Monday. There was no trading Tuesday due to the Chinese New Year holiday.
It opened little changed at 52.34 from 52.32 during the previous session.
It traded between 52.35 and its closing level of 52.235, resulting in an average of 52.31.
Volume reached USD746.4 million, lower than last Monday’s USD842.9 million.
On the other hand, the main stock gauge lost 0.14 percent, or 11.03 points, to 8,058.45 points.
“Philippine investors opted to profit take today in order to digest the speech of President Trump during his State of the Union address,” Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan said.
Limlingan noted that “in a show of bipartisan unity, representatives from both parties wore white.”
“With various topics regarding immigration, North Korea, and even a re-election pitch, many are taking a wait-and-see approach how sentiment will be when trading resumes in the US,” he said.
The broader All Shares was almost flat after ending the day with a 0.02 percent, or 0.94 points hike to 4,893.48 points.
Most of the sectors rose during the day led by Mining and Oil, which increased by 1.37 percent.
It was followed by Services, 0.75 percent; Financials, 0.74 percent; Industrial, 0.55 percent; and Property, 0.48 percent.
Only Holding Firms declined after losing 1.23 percent.
Volume reached 2.84 billion shares amounting to PHP7.3 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 140 to 76 while 42 shares were unchanged.
