MANILA – The Philippine peso ended Friday stronger against the US dollar despite the risk-off sentiment that resulted in the negative close of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) this week.
The local currency finished the week’s trading at 48.395 to a greenback, better than its 48.51 close a day ago.
It opened the day sideways at 48.46 from its 48.435 start in the previous session.
It traded between 48.46 and 48.365, resulting in an average of 48.41.
Volume totaled to USD832.54 million, higher than day-ago’s USD710.9 million.
On the other hand, the main equities gauge fell by 0.58 percent, or 34.62 points, to 5,908.90 points.
All Shares dropped by 0.25 percent, or 9.05 points, to 3,553.58 points.
Half of the sectoral gauges trailed the main index namely the Holding Firms, 1.13 percent; Property, 1.04 percent; and Industrial, 0.14 percent.
On the other hand, Financials rose by 0.77 percent, Mining and Oil by 0.10 percent, and Services by 0.07 percent.
Volume totaled to 767.34 million shares amounting to PHP7.64 billion.
It was a balance among the advancers and decliners at 94 each while 46 shares were unchanged.
“Local shares closed lower as investors digested Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s dour economic outlook along with lackluster US economic data,” Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, said.
On Thursday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the Fed’s key rates steady at between zero to 0.25 percent and Powell said interest rates are expected to remain low at least until 2023 to support the growth of the US economy. (PNA)
