MANILA – The Philippine peso managed to close Friday sideways against the US dollar despite the concerns on the rising number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, including in the Philippines, but the main equities index ended in the red.
The peso ended the day at 50.64 from Thursday’s 50.585, which BPI Research attributed to investors’ decision “to unwind riskier assets amid heightened global growth uncertainties due to the virus spread.”
It started the day at 50.65, sideways from its 50.6 opening in the previous session.
It traded between 50.77 and 50.61, bringing the day’s average to 50.702.
Volume amounted to USD1.29 billion, higher than the USD945.45 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.55 and 50.80 on Monday.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended its three-day rally after finishing the week at 6,770.38 points, down 1.66 percent or 114.39 points.
All the other indices tracked the main index, with the All Shares down by 1.35 percent, or 55.32 points, to 4,039.55 points.
Property shed the most among the sectors with a decline of 2.07 percent, and was trailed by the Financials, 1.98 percent; Mining and Oil, 1.61 percent; Industrial, 1.40 percent; Holding Firms, 1.39 percent; and Services, 0.97 percent.
Volume was thin after totaling to 632.65 million shares amounting to PHP5.88 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 138 to 45, while 38 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
