By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Risk aversion, fueled by ongoing trade issues between the US and China, resulted in the sideways close of the Philippine peso on Thursday but the main equities index managed to rise.
The local currency finished the day at 51.865, little changed from its 51.85 finish last Tuesday. There was no trading on Wednesday due to the Independence Day holiday.
In a market report, BPI Research said the peso finished the day’s trade, in line with its counterparts in the region “amid lingering global trade tensions.”
The local unit opened the day at 51.95, slightly better than its 52.05 start in the previous session.
It traded between 51.98 and 51.83, bringing the day’s average to 51.923.
Volume reached USD919.84 million, higher than last Wednesday’s USD867.45 million.
The peso is seen to trade between 51.75 and 52.00 to a greenback on Friday.
Relatively, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.26 percent, or 20.78 points, to 8,051.76 points.
BPI Research also stated that mixed results were registered in the local bourse Thursday “amid the lack of fresh catalysts onshore.”
Most of the counters tracked the main gauge, with All Shares up by 0.13 percent, or 6.44 points, to 4,914.12 points.
Services rose 0.60 percent and was followed by the Financials, 0.19 percent; Industrial, 0.15 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.12 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil dropped by 2.06 percent and Property by 0.07 percent.
Volume reached 993.5 million shares amounting to PHP9.1 billion.
Losers led gainers at 104 to 82 while 52 shares were unchanged.
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