Business and Economy
PSEi registers another record high, peso slips vs. USD
PSEi closed the week’s first trading day (Photo by Katrina.Tuliao, CC BY 2.0)
PSEi closed the week’s first trading day at 9,058.62 points, higher than its previous all-time high of 9,041.20 points hit last Friday, January 26. It ended Monday with an increase of 0.19 percent or 17.42 points.
A trader said the local bourse moved along with the regional rally on increased risk-on sentiment, given the same trend on Wall Street, which got a lift from the positive outlook in this earnings report season.
The broader All Shares ticked-up 0.07 percent, or 3.68 points, to 5,273.00 points.
Four of the six sectoral indices finished with gains, led by Services, which rose 2.33 percent.
It was followed by Mining and Oil, 0.36 percent; Financials, 0.06 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.05 percent.
On the other hand, Industrial shed 0.61 percent, while Property slid 0.55 percent.
Volume for the day totaled 1.27 billion shares amounting to PHP8.87 billion.
Losers led gainers at 116 to 95, while 55 shares were unchanged.
Meanwhile, the peso gave up PHP0.34, ending Monday at 51.185 from 50.84 in the previous session.
The trader said corporate demand boosted the dollar’s strength along with maturing currency hedging contracts this week.
But then, the peso’s slide was countered by the sustained improvement of the PSEi, the trader said.
The PHP opened the day at 50.90, almost unmoved from its 50.91 start in the previous session.
Its opening level is the unit’s strongest for the day after it dropped to 51.20, resulting in an average of 51.04.
Volume for the day totaled to USD892.25 million, a decline from the USD1.053 billion Friday last week.
