MANILA -- Seasonal inflows of remittances from overseas Filipinos buoyed the Philippine peso on Thursday but concerns on the impact of a US legislation that supports Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters resulted in the reversal of the main equities index.
The local currency ended the day at 50.705 from 50.8 at the close during the previous day, which a trader attributed to inflows from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) during the holidays.
It opened the day at 50.82, little changed from the 50.84 start in the previous session, and traded between 50.87 and 50.7, resulting in an average of 50.798.
Volume rose to USD1.05 billion compared to the USD858.25 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.70 and 50.90 on Friday.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 0.87 percent, or 68.23 points, to 7,768.66 points.
All Shares tracked the main gauge after it declined by 0.73 percent, or 34.05 points, to 4,650.95 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also ended with losses, with Mining and Oil index registering the highest decline at 2.87 percent.
Holding Firms lost 1.15 percent; Financials, 1.04 percent; Industrial, 1.00 percent; and Property, 0.57 percent.
Only the Services index gained during the day after rising 0.28 percent.
Volume reached 668.52 million shares amounting to PHP5.44 billion.
Losers led gainers at 116 to 64, while 52 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
