MANILA -- Local stocks ended higher on Thursday while the peso recovered against the greenback as trade concerns eased a bit, after a Chinese official said they will not hit back against US’ latest tariff hike for now.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) finished the day up by 0.58 percent, or 45.31 points, to 7,892.81 points.
BPI Research also attributed the gains to “renewed trade optimism and growing expectations that the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) will trim further the policy rates in the coming months.”
All Shares also increased to 4,765.77 points, higher by 0.36 percent or 16.96 points.
Industrials led the sectors with an uptick of 1.13 percent, followed by Mining and Oil, 1.07 percent; Holding Firms, 0.84 percent; Financials, 0.53 percent; and Services, 0.14 percent.
Only Property ended in the red as it declined by 0.15 percent.
Volume reached 6.58 billion shares amounting to PHP8.44 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 109 to 87, while 47 shares were unchanged.
Meanwhile, the local currency finished the day at 52.18 from 52.32 a day ago.
BPI Research traced this improvement to an 11-year low of the Chinese yuan, also on account of the positive trade comments.
It cited news reports quoting China's Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng as saying they will not mind for now the tariff increase on about USD300-billion Chinese goods to 15 percent effective September 1.
“The news somewhat eased trade-related fears on Thursday's trading,” it said.
The local unit opened sideways at 52.34 compared to the 52.28 start a day ago.
It traded between 52.4 and 52.18, resulting in an average of 52.339.
Volume reached nearly USD1.15 billion from USD1.11 billion Wednesday.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.15 and 52.40 Friday. (PNA)
