MANILA – The Philippine peso appreciated anew against the US dollar Tuesday but the sentiment turned sour for local shares, pulling the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) down.
The local currency ended the day at 51.78 from 51.91 a day ago, which BPI Research attributed to the inverted US yield curve.
Analysts have expected the slight weakening of the greenback given the ongoing trade tensions overseas.
These developments resulted in the 51.75 opening of the peso, better than the 52.15 start in the previous session.
It traded between 51.815 and 51.7, resulting in an average of 51.758.
Volume reached USD1.04 billion, up from the USD782.85 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.60 and 51.90 on Thursday.
There will be no trading on Wednesday due to the commemoration of Eid al-Fitr.
On the other hand, the main equities gauge ended its five-day rally after investors took profit.
BPI Research also said there was “no positive catalysts that could sustain (PSEi’s) recent gains.”
This close was tracked by all the other gauges, with the All Shares down by 1.13 percent, or 55.79 points, to 4,883.22 points.
Property posted the highest drop at 2.67 percent and was followed by the Mining and Oil, 2.24 percent; Services, 1.44 percent; Financials, 1.35 percent; Industrial, 1.27 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.96 percent.
Volume reached 599.749 million shares amounting to PHP10.55 billion.
Losers led gainers at 113 to 84 while 40 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
