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MANILA – Bargain hunters supported the local stock market to get back to the 6,500 mark while the peso continued to depreciate, crossing the PHP56-level on Monday.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed at 6,507.78, improving by 56.94 points, with all shares gaining by 26.31 points to finish at 3,473.92.
“The market recovered some ground to close above the 6,500 level on the back of a rebound in index names that were sold down last Friday due to the PSEi rebalancing,” China Bank Capital Corp. managing director Juan Paolo Colet said.
However, Colet said market turnover has remained low, indicating investors’ cautious sentiment ahead of the release of the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) result for the second quarter of 2023 and the inflation data in the United States within the week.
Except for Property, which declined by 22.95 points, all sectors ended in the green.
Top gainer Industrial, with shares up by 123.06 points, followed by Holding Firms (+65.44 points), Mining and Oil (+55.91 points), Services (+30.57 points), and Financials (+6.66 points).
Advancers led decliners at 97 to 82, with 51 firms left unchanged.
Meanwhile, peso closed at 56.02 to a US dollar from Friday’s finish of 55.74 to the greenback.
The local currency depreciated by PHP0.28, now shedding for four straight days.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said it was last June 9 that peso touched the 56 level at 56.05.
“The peso also weakened after recent signals on being careful of not hiking local policy rates too much to avoid slowing economic/GDP growth, as well as some net foreign selling in the local stock market recently,” he said.
The currency pair opened trading at 55.65.
The peso-dollar exchange rate went from a low of 56.02 to a high of 55.60, settling at an average of 55.74.
Volume of trade declined to USD73.75 million from the volume of USD1.14 billion last Friday. (PNA)
