MANILA — The Philippine peso and the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed Monday as investors troop to safer grounds on jitters generated by the financial crisis in Turkey.
The peso ended the week’s first trading day at 53.37 from 53.09 Friday last week.
A trader said the US dollar strengthened as a result of concerns on Turkey, thus, the general weakness of currencies in Asia.
Corporates’ mid-month dollar demand added to the peso’s weakness during the day, the trader said.
For the day, the local unit opened at 53.18, sideways from the 53.13 in the previous session.
It traded between its opening level and 53.375, bringing the day’s average at 53.307.
Volume for the day reached USD786.4 million, higher than the USD664.3 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.10 and 53.30 Tuesday.
Also, the main equities index shed 2.17 percent, or 169.71 points to 7,635.27 points, which another trader pointed to the Turkey-factor.
All the other counters mirrored the main gauge, with the broader All Share down by 1.74 percent, or 82.16 points, to 4,632.53 points.
The sectors were led by the Property, which fell 2.89 percent, and was followed by the Holding Firms, 2.82 percent; Industrial, 1.21 percent; Financials, 1.19 percent; Services, 0.91 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.81 percent.
Volume reached 1.44 billion shares amounting to Php5.2 billion.
Losers led gainers at 140 to 58 while 39 stocks were unchanged. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
