By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Philippine peso further gained traction against the US dollar Tuesday but the main equities index ended its six-day rally due to mounting fears of a US strike on Iran.
The local currency finished the trade at 51.365 from Monday’s 51.39, which BPI Research attributed to weakness of the US currency.
It opened the day’s trade at 51.33, better than its 51.45 start in the previous session.
It traded between 51.42 and 51.29, resulting to an average of 51.356.
Volume amounted to USD771.92 million, higher than day-ago’s USD732 million.
The peso is seen to trade between 51.25 and 51.55 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 0.33 percent, or 26.49 points, to 8,034.09 points.
BPI Research pointed this to the geopolitical tension between the US and Iran.
This follows US President Donald Trump’s order of new sanctions against the Middle Eastern country, including the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom he accused of being “ultimately responsible for the hostile conduct of the regime.”
American officials also blamed the Iranian regime for shooting down a US drone in the Gulf last week.
With the heightened tension, investors stayed in the sidelines resulting in the negative close of some counters in the local bourse.
All Shares declined by 0.27 percent, or 13.54 points, to 4,909.00 points.
Two of the sectoral indices also finished on the red, namely Property, 1.60 percent, and Financials, 0.28 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil increased by 2.55 percent, and was followed by the Industrial, 0.36 percent; Services, 0.19 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.10 percent.
Volume reached 1.2 billion shares amounting to PHP6.58 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 102 to 97 while 56 shares were unchanged.
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