MANILA – The Philippine peso improved to 51-level against the greenback on Friday following the additional 25 basis points cut in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Thursday but the main equities index fell after a three-day rally.
The local currency finished Friday’s trade at 51.875, better than its 52.11 finish Thursday, which BPI Research attributed to the 25 basis points slash in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) key rates on Thursday.
To date, the BSP’s policy rates have been reduced by a total of 75 basis points, which monetary officials attributed to the continuous deceleration of domestic inflation rate and firm domestic growth.
To date, the central bank’s overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) rate is at 4 percent.
With the latest rate cut, the peso opened the day at 52.15, sideways from its 52.22 start in the previous session.
It improved to as much as 51.86 but also moved to 52.18, resulting in an average of 52.042.
Volume reached USD1.21 billion, higher than the USD1.15 billion a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.70 and 52.20 on Monday.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.98 percent, or 77.26 points, to 7,819.22 points, which BPI Research pointer to negative developments overseas.
Reports said the US government may not renew the temporary waiver that allowed China’s Huawei to do business with US companies.
Industrial profits in China also fell 2 percent year-on-year last August, which BPI Research said indicates signs of economic weakness as a result of the trade conflict with the US.
Relatively, Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan said another factor that worried investors include the whistle-blower complaint against US President Donald Trump, which alleged that he called Ukrainian officials to investigate former US Vice President and 2020 Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
With these factors, all the counters in the local bourse ended on the red.
All Shares dropped by 0.85 percent, or 40.53 points, to 4,728.81 points.
Mining and Oil posted the highest decline at 2.63 percent and was trailed by the Property, 1.15 percent; Holding Firms, 1.14 percent; Services, 0.99 percent; Industrial, 0.62 percent; and Financials, 0.22 percent.
Volume reached 1.48 billion shares amounting to PHP5.93 billion.
Losers led gainers at 133 to 57 while 43 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
