MANILA – Local equities continue to benefit from investors’ risk-on sentiments on Tuesday but the peso ended sideways against the US dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) increased by 3.03 percent, or 169.90 points, to 5,780.88 points.
All Shares rose by 2.61 percent, or 88.32 points, to 3,468.95 points.
Industrial posted the highest jump among the sectoral gauges, after rising by 4.36 percent.
Trailing behind were Services, 4.31 percent; Financials, 3.79 percent; Mining and Oil, 3.69 percent; Holding Firms, 2.37 percent; and Property, 2.13 percent.
Volume totaled 979.02 million shares amounting to PHP7.38 billion.
Gainers led losers at 158 to 53, while 32 shares were unchanged.
Regina Capital managing director Luis Limlingan traced this performance to investors’ decision “to weigh whether the OPEC+ deal could stabilize the markets.”
He was referring to the deal between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies, such as Russia, to cut global oil production by about 10 percent due to lower demand because of the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Reports said the production cut is the biggest that has been agreed upon so far.
Limlingan also cited reports wherein US President Donald Trump was quoted as saying that there is “clear evidence” that policies targeted to address Covid-19 cases are working, as shown by the lesser number of new cases.
The same observation was noted in some European countries, contributing to lesser concerns among investors.
Meanwhile, the peso continues to remain firm against the US dollar after ending Tuesday’s trade at 50.63 from 50.595 the previous day.
It opened the trade at 50.63, little changed from its 50.62 start in the previous session.
Its strongest level for the day stood at 50.54 while its weakest was at 50.65. This resulted in an average of 50.592.
Volume totaled USD 340.4 million, higher than the USD194.2 million on Monday. (PNA)
