By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Philippine peso improved against the US dollar Tuesday rising to the 51-level and the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained at the latter part of the day due to bargain hunting.
The local currency ended the day at 51.99 from the previous day’s 52.145, which a trader partly attributed to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno’s statement that the central bank has ample dollar reserves.
Relatively, BPI Research said the peso benefited from the net foreign buying in the local stock market.
For the day, the peso opened at 52.20, weaker than its 52.05 start in the previous session.
It traded between 52.20 and 51.99, resulting to an average of 52.116.
Volume reached USD763.91 million, lower than the USD955.73 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.90 and 52.20 Wednesday.
Relatively, the main equities index recovered after it rose 0.17 percent, or 13.05 points, to 7,922.04 points.
“Philippine shares slid were quietly bought up at closing as investors anticipate a crucial Federal Reserve meeting this week followed by the outcome of the BSP’s policy meeting on Thursday,” he said.
Some analysts expect the Fed to keep rates steady this week but said policy cut is imminent given the weakness of the US economy.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Economics and Industry Research Division chief Michael Ricafort said Fed Fund Futures are already pricing a slash of about 0.25 to 0.50 percent for this year.
He told PNA that expectation of impending rate cuts strengthened given the impact of trade disputes overseas on the global economy, which resulted in renewed volatilities in the financial markets.
For the day, it was a mix among the counters in the local equity market, with the All Shares up by 0.06 percent, or 2.78 points, to 4,845.50 points.
Half of the sectoral gauges rose namely the Holding Firms, 0.76 percent; Industrial, 0.60 percent; and Services, 0.49 percent.
On the other hand, Property declined by 0.75 percent and was followed by the Financials, 0.51 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.20 percent.
Volume for the day reached 1.66 billion shares amounting to PHP7.96 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 100 to 96 while 54 shares were unchanged.
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