MANILA, July 28 — The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) extended its gains for a fourth straight day and closed at a one-year high of 8,071.47, up by 25.69 points or 0.3 percent.
Friday’s closing level was the highest for the index since July 27, 2016 when the PSEi finished at 8,100.48.
“The PSEi bucked the general downtrend in Asia on positive investor sentiment ahead of the release of second quarter earnings results. We have also seen net foreign buying in the last six days which indicates funds potentially favoring emerging markets on expectations of steady interest rates in the US,” said PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.
A trader said investors were optimistic on the incoming earnings season for listed companies.
This was seen in most of the other gauges with the broader All Shares up 0.19 percent, or 9.02 points, to 4,790.60 points.
Most of the sectors finished the week with gains namely the Financials, 0.68 percent; Services, 0.64 percent; Property, 0.22 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.20 percent.
Mining and Oil and Industrial, on the other hand, went the other way after declining 0.87 percent and 0.30 percent, respectively.
A total of 1.11 billion shares amounting to PHP6.42 billion changed hands.
Gainers eventually led the losers at 119 to 88 while 42 shares were unchanged.
The peso, on the other hand, finished the week at 50.57 from 50.56 Thursday, which a trader said was due to investors’ wait-and-see stance ahead of the US gross domestic product (GDP) report for the second quarter of 2017 to be released later in the day.
From January to March this year, US’ economy rose 1.4 percent, slower than the previous quarter’s 2.1 percent but better than the 1.2 percent based on the second reading for the quarter.
The trader said investors were optimistic on the continued improvement of the US economy, given the improvement of labor condition and consumer spending but sentiment was muted ahead of the report.
Thus, the peso opened slightly weaker at 50.60 from 50.53 in the previous session.
It traded between 50.63 and 50.54 resulting in an average of 50.57.
Volume for the day reached USD432 million, lower than Thursday’s USD560.5 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.40 and 50.80. (PNA)
