MANILA – The Philippine peso improved against the greenback on Thursday unlike the equities gauge, which slid for the fifth consecutive trading day on growth concerns overseas.
The local currency finished the day at 51.815 from the previous day’s 51.94 close, which a trader attributed to correction after its recent volatility.
It opened the day sideways at 51.97 from 51.92 a day ago.
It traded between 51.8 and 52.03, bringing the day’s average to 51.95.
Volume reached USD1.19 billion, a jump from the USD969.1 million a day ago.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined further by 0.86 percent, or 65.13 points to 7,545.55 points, which Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan pointed to slower jobs creation reports from the US.
A report from ADP Research Institute, US’s biggest paycheck processor, showed that private companies hired about 135,000 workers last September, lower than expectations of about 152,000 new jobs.
Risk-off sentient spelled the day’s trade with most of the other counters mirroring the main index.
All Shares went down by 0.68 percent, or 31.67 points, to 4,604.01 points.
Property registered the highest drop among the sectors at 2.19 percent and was trailed by Holding Firms, 1.27 percent; Financials, 0.55 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.09 percent.
On the other hand, Industrial rose by 0.82 percent and Services by 0.65 percent.
Volume reached 570.2 million shares amounting to PHP8.3 billion.
Decliners led gainers at 141 to 42 while 58 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
