MANILA -- The Philippine peso ended sideways on Monday given the strong jobs report in the US, while the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended in the red ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rate setting meeting on Thursday.
The local currency finished the day at 50.77 from 50.765 Friday last week, which BPI Research partly traced to the higher-than-expected expansion of US non-farm payrolls last November to 266,000 from the projected 180,000 increase.
It also cited the fourth consecutive drop of Chinese exports last November, which fell by 1.1 percent year-on-year from 0.9 percent in the previous month.
BPI Research said these reports “bolstered demand for the dollar against the peso.”
For the day, the local currency opened at 50.83, weaker than the 50.72 in the previous session.
It traded between 50.875 and 50.77, resulting in an average of 50.836.
Volume reached USD653.4 million, lower than the USD899.2 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.60 and 50.90 on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the main equities index contracted by 0.28 percent, or 21.92 points to 7,779.80 points.
All Shares declined by 0.17 percent, or 8.08 points, to 4,637.88 points.
Holding Firms registered the highest decrease at 1.33 percent, which was followed by the Property, 0.69 percent; and Services, 0.14 percent.
Financials posted the highest increase with 1.09 percent, while Industrial, 0.99 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.26 percent.
Volume reached 576.2 million shares amounting to PHP5.55 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 105 to 81, while 48 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
