MANILA — The Philippine peso continued to show strength against the US dollar Thursday amid alarming geopolitical developments overseas while the main stocks gauge dipped a day after recovering.
The local currency finished the day’s trade at 52.10, which is slightly up from 52.07 in the previous day. But a trader said the local unit remained sufficiently strong to resist the downward pull exerted by global gloominess.
Thus, for the day, the peso opened flat at 52.05 and traded between 52.025 and 52.12. The average level for the day stood at 52.065, little changed from the previous session average of 52.097. Volume reached USD654.45 million, higher than Wednesday’s USD502 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.00 and 52.30 Friday.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 1.42 percent, or 110.89, to 7,682.24 points after rising the previous day.
A trader said the Syria issue continues to worry investors, so after the bargain-hunting a day ago, the main gauge suffered another setback. PSEi’s performance was tracked by All Shares, which fell 1.16 percent, or 54.93 points, to 4,665.65 points.
Most of the sectors also finished the day on the red, led by Property, which dropped by 2.22 percent. It was followed by Holding Firms, 1.91 percent; Industrial, 1.71 percent; Services, 1.19 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.20 percent. Only Financials gained during the day after it rose 0.50 percent.
The volume of trade for the day reached 1.82 billion shares amounting to PHP11.76 billion. Losers surpassed gainers at 171 to 58 while 31 shares were unchanged. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
