MANILA – The main stocks gauge recovered on Tuesday while the peso further strengthened against the greenback after the easing of the community quarantine level in the National Capital Region (NCR) and four nearby provinces.
After a two-day slide, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 1.44 percent, or 87.67 points, to 6,156.45 points.
All other counters tracked the main gauge, with All Shares up by 1.15 percent, or 41.44 points, to 3,635.78 points.
Holding Firms led the sectors with a jump of 2.27 percent, and was followed by Services, 1.26 percent; Mining and Oil, 1.15 percent; Financials, 0.97 percent; Property, 0.72 percent; and Industrial, 0.56 percent.
Volume totaled 9.76 billion shares amounting to PHP5.96 billion.
Gainers led losers at 117 to 71, while 43 shares were unchanged.
“The PSEi benchmark climbed further as sentiment was boosted by the country transitioning back to GCQ (general community quarantine) and despite a Congressional stalemate over fresh stimulus to help Americans and businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.
Among other areas, the NCR, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal, and Cavite will be placed back under GCQ from August 19 to 31, after being placed under a 15-day modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in response to the request of medical practitioners to help address the rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections.
The easing of movement restrictions will allow more industries to reopen, among them restaurants, which will be allowed to have dine-in operations.
Other areas under GCQ are the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Quezon; the cities of Iloilo, Cebu, Lapu Lapu, Mandaue, and Talisay; and the municipalities of Minglanilla and Consolacion in Cebu.
Other areas around the country have been placed under the modified GCQ.
The optimism in the local stock market also benefited the peso, which closed the day’s trade at 48.625 from Monday’s 48.71.
It opened the day at 48.66, sideways from its 48.7 start in the previous session, and traded between 48.66 and 48.61, resulting in an average of 48.627.
Volume totaled USD875.4 million, higher than the USD423.3 million on Monday. (PNA)
