MANILA — Risk-off sentiment reigned over the Philippines’ financial and capital markets Monday resulting to the weak close of the peso and the decline of the main stocks gauge.
The local currency finished the day at 52.24 from 52.095 Friday last week.
A trader attributed this to rising US Treasury yields following the bullish statement of US Fed Governor Lael Brainard , who is optimistic about the sustained improvement of the US economy, which he said, can further absorb any Fed rate increases.
For the day , the peso opened sideways at 52.13 from 52.16 in the previous session. It moved between 52.12 and 52.26 during the day, resulting to an average of 52.17.
Volume reached USD757.2 million, more than twice the USD329.5 million at the end of last week. The trader expects the local unit to trade between 52.10 and 52.30 to the Greenback Tuesday.
Likewise, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.09 percent, or 7.25 points, to 7,719.47 points, which the trader said was due to the slight weakness on Wall Street.
All the other counters tracked the main index, with the All Shares down by 0.22 percent, or 10.20 points, to 4,677.09 points. Mining and Oil registered the highest drop among the sectors for the day after it declined by 1.40 percent followed by the Services, 0.33 percent; Holding Firms, 0.25 percent; Property, 0.10 percent; Financials,0.08 percent; and Industrial, 0.07 percent. Volume totalled to 1.04 billion shares amounting to Php5.48 billion.
Decliners surpassed advancers at 103 to 88 while 57 stocks were unchanged. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
