MANILA — The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose for the second day in a row Thursday while the Peso managed to keep its footing amid the US dollar’s strength.
The PSEi gained 2.25 percent, or 171.77 points, to 7,804.03 points, which a trader pointed to foreign buying after the slide of the main index in the past days.
All Shares went up 2.36 percent, or 108.97 points, to 4,732.58 points.
Most of the sectors also mirrored the main gauge, with the Property posting the highest jump of 2.85 percent.
It was followed by the Holding Firms, 2.03 percent; Financials, 1.95 percent; Services, 1.82 percent; and Industrial, 1.31 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil index registered loss during the day after it fell 0.23 percent.
Volume reached 810.4 million shares amounting to PHP7.97 billion.
Gainers led losers at 130 to 69 while 50 shares were unchanged.
The Peso ended the day at 53.48 from 53.425 a day ago, which a trader pointed to the greenback’s strengthening after minutes of the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting hints of another hike in the Federal Reserve rates next month.
The trader said this boosted investors’ sentiment, thus, the strengthening of the dollar in the region.
It opened the day at 53.46, down from Wednesday’s 53.36, trading between 53.51 and 53.45 and resulting in to an average of 53.488.
Volume reached USD576.45 million, up from the USD385.15 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.30 and 53.50 Friday. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
