MANILA -- Enthusiasm returned to Philippine Stock Exchange after a two-day slide on Wednesday but the peso weakened ahead of the Congressional speech of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the day.
PSEi gained 0.45 percent, or 36.17 points, to 8,078.21 points, which BPI Research attributed to bargain hunting.
All Shares gained 0.44 percent, or 21.43 points, to 4,922.17 points.
Half of the sectors also tracked the main index and these are Services, 1.59 percent; Holding Firms, 1.25 percent; and Financials, 0.13 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil fell 1.15 percent; Industrial, 0.60 percent; and Property, 0.06 percent.
Volume reached 2.38 billion shares amounting to PHP5.4 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 109 to 93 while 39 shares were unchanged.
The peso ended the day at 51.46 to US dollar from 51.31 Tuesday.
It opened the day at 51.405, sideways from its 51.36 start in the previous day.
It traded between 51.36 and 51.48, resulting to an average of 51.408.
Volume reached USD729.69 million, lower than the USD761.92 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.35 and 51.55 Thursday. (PNA)
