MANILA -- The Philippine peso ended Thursday sideways against the greenback while the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell anew due to growth concerns overseas.
The local unit ended the day at 52.255 from 52.29 last Tuesday. There was no trading on Wednesday due to the commemoration of the Ninoy Aquino Day, a national holiday.
A trader said the peso remained firm against the US dollar as investors were still in limbo on future decisions of the Federal Reserve with minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) showing most Fed officials considered the recent 25-basis point cut in the Fed rates as solution to address the low inflation rate and declining business environment.
However, the minutes of the meeting also showed that some Fed officials thought otherwise.
The peso opened the day at 52.25, better than its 52.37 start in the previous trading.
It traded between 52.32 and 52.17, resulting in an average of 52.243.
Volume reached USD1.266 billion, higher than the USD1.129 billion last Tuesday.
On the other hand, the main equities gauge declined by 0.48 percent, or 38.08 points, to 7,848.83 points.
All Shares declined by 0.54 percent, or 25.93 points, to 4,757.15 points.
Sectoral indices were a mixed bag with Mining and Oil, Financials, and Industrial rising by 0.93 percent, 0.63 percent, and 0.50 percent, respectively.
Property, Holding Firms, and Services declined by 1.78 percent, 0.89 percent, and 0.03 percent.
Volume reached 2.1 billion shares amounting to PHP9.92 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 129 to 75, while 44 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
